


Nothing is True, Everything is Permitted

by nerdyandturdy (darweanie)



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Assassin's Creed
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Assassin Oliver, Assassin's Creed AU, Assassins, F/M, Friendship, Happy Ending, Slow Burn, Templar Felicity, Templars, but I went for it anyway, kind of, the assassins creed au no one asked for, unlikely friendship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-08
Updated: 2017-01-20
Packaged: 2018-08-13 20:58:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 28,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7985971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darweanie/pseuds/nerdyandturdy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Felicity is a prisoner of the Templar Order, desperately trying to escape. Oliver is a member of the Brotherhood of Assassins, dealing with the death of his father. The two organizations clash together, demanding the end of the other side. When the Order sends Felicity undercover to infiltrate the Assassins, she doesn't know which will be worse, failing to gain the trust of the Brotherhood or getting caught by the Order trying to double cross them. When Oliver grows close to Felicity, he doesn't know which will be worse, losing her to the Brotherhood, or losing her to the Order.</p><p>***Now updates every weekend because college is hard</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1: Hoping And Grieving

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! This fic has been in my mind for a couple years now, but it never came into fruition until now. Or well, a few months ago with the beginning of OFBB 2016. Unfortunately, I had to drop out. But I still wanted to get this fic out there. As of the day I post this first chapter, it is still a work in progress, but I'm hoping that finally getting it out there will encourage me to keep writing. I don't really have a beta and I'm kind of shy too ask my beta from OFBB, so if you're interested let me know! I'm not sure about my posting schedule yet, but after this little chapter, I'm thinking about updating on Tuesdays. And don't worry, the next chapters are a lot longer than this one. This is my first fic, so I really hope you guys enjoy it!

Today is the day.

Today is the day she was going to leave.

She is going to pack her bags, take all of her tech, and leave this god forsaken place.

Screw them, she thinks. They’ve been a pain in her ass since she was a young girl. It isn’t her fault that her father is a poor excuse for a human being. It isn’t her fault that he left with so much debt to the Templars that he had to give his daughter up to an evil, power-hungry organization. It isn’t her fault that, even though she hasn’t had contact with her mother in years, she has to check up on her through a computer screen, hoping that she is still living a normal life. Hoping that she is still living. It is all her father’s fault. It is all the Order’s fault. It is all their fault. Their fault for forcing her into this state where she just… is.

She doesn’t know who she is. She knows her name. Her name is Felicity. She knows she is 24 years old. She knows that she’s a natural brunette, her hair dyed dark so she can blend in easily. She knows she is a technical genius. She can hack anything she can come across. She knows all of this. But she doesn’t know what she is outside of the Order.

She needs out.

Felicity glances at her duffle bag and backpack, filled with her clothes, her civvies and her darker undercover clothes (though they aren’t that much different), her various devices, and basically her whole life. Her whole life fits in a duffle and a backpack. How pathetic is her life?

Felicity shoulders her backpack and picks up her duffle bag. It’s time to go.

But then a knock comes at her door.

“Smoak! You’re wanted in the conference room!”

Isabel Rochev. The Inner Sanctum’s favorite. She kisses up to them to get what she wants. She pushes people out of her way just to get to the top. Nearly got her killed just so she could claim the mission to be her success instead of Felicity. That conniving little b–

“Smoak!”

Felicity relents, “Alright! I’m coming!”

She hears Rochev’s steps move away from her door before lifting her head, staring at the ceiling in frustration.

Next time, Felicity hopes. But her hope has been dwindling for years now.

 

* * *

 

“I’m sorry for your loss.”

“He was a good man.”

“He will be missed.”

They’re all just empty words. They don’t understand.

 

> _Robert Alan Queen_
> 
> _1961 – 2016_
> 
> _Loving father and a great leader_
> 
> _Nothing is true, Everything is permitted._  

Oliver stares at the fresh dirt that his father’s body now resided under. The light gray concrete slab sticks out of the ground, greatly contrasting the bright green grass that surrounds the cemetery. He bends on one knee in front of the gravestone and lifts a hand to touch it. Bowing his head down and closing his eyes, Oliver feels his guilt and shame swirl in his stomach.

“I have failed you…”

Soft footsteps against the grass come up to him and a hand touches his shoulder.

“Ollie. It wasn’t your fault…”

He’s tired of hearing it. One second he’s on his knees, mourning his father, and the next, Oliver is suddenly standing, hands clenched and eyes red.

“Yes, it is! You weren’t there when it happened, Thea! If I hadn’t–” Oliver stops suddenly. His chest feels heavy, but he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. Calmly, he opens his eyes again. “If had been focused on the mission, he would still be here. If I hadn’t screwed up with Sla-”

“Ollie… You can’t think like that.”

Thea looks at her brother, her eyes wet with tears. She walks up to him and wraps her arms around his torso. Oliver feels her warmth and can’t help but seek comfort in his little sister.

“You barely know anything about this world we live in. The Brotherhood is… It’s not the best life to lead.”

Thea lets go of her brother for a moment. “Of course, I don’t know anything about the Assassins. None of you guys want to share. I’m turning 18 in a few months, and then I get to start training. I don’t get why you won’t tell me anything. It’s my birthright. I’m a part of this weirdo family of Assassins, so whether I become one or not, and I am, I deserve to know a few things. Especially if it cost my father his life.”

Oliver watches as she steps around him to stand in front of their father’s grave. He watches as the slight breeze brushes her hair. His little sister is not very little anymore. She’s grown into a fine young woman, a better person than he will ever be.

She places a kiss to her palm and lays it on the gravestone, whispering a quick “I love you” before turning back to Oliver with a fire in her eyes.

“You gotta let someone in, Ollie. If not me, then someone else. But you have to talk about what happened.”

Oliver nods, not in agreement, but in acknowledgment. Perhaps one day, he’ll open up to her, or whoever, about what happened, but that day is not near. He follows Thea back to the car waiting for them, their mother waiting silently inside. But just before they enter the car, Thea turns back to him.

“Just wait, Ollie. I’m going to become a great assassin. Better than you and Dad. And together, we’re going to stop the Templars from whatever evil plan they have next.”

Even though he still feels the sadness from the loss of their father around her, he can feel her determination too. Just like that, his little sister has gone from mourning their father to getting ready to surpass him and honor his death. His little sister is a spitfire. She bounces back quickly, true to her nickname Speedy. She walks the rest of the way to the car without him, determination set in her feet. Her fire sparks something inside of Oliver.

The mission may have failed, but the war isn’t over.

It’s time to get to work.

 


	2. Before the Meetings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity prepares for a Templar meeting while Oliver prepares for an Assassin meeting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really suck at titles lol. So I figured since the first chapter was short, I'd post the second chapter, which is just a few hundred words longer, but combined they add up to one of the next chapters. I just finished writing chapter four and I'm really excited for you to read it. But you'll have to wait a little less than two weeks! As scheduled chapter 3 will be uploaded on Tuesday. I'm so glad that some of you are really interested in where this fic goes.

“Nice of you to make it, Miss Smoak.”

Felicity wants to roll her eyes, but her professionalism prevents her. “Always aim to please, Mr. Wilson.”

He smirks at her. “I’m sure you do.”

Slade Wilson. Resident douchebag Australian. Stabbed in the eye by an assassin when he betrayed the Brotherhood for the Templar Order. Gained the trust of the Templar Inner Sanctum, the most prestigious sector of the Order, and weaseled his way in. Now he stands as the head of a conference table as COO of a major company disguising an ancient organization, under the alias of Joseph Grant. He’s been pushing Felicity’s ass about joining up on this secret project that the Grandmaster has been planning for the last few years, but she’s not having any part in anything to do with him. He gives her the creeps.

Felicity takes a seat at the conference table and observes the other Templars attending this meeting.

Of course, Rochev is there, her smug expression permanently etched on her face, patiently waiting for the meeting to begin, sitting to Slade’s right. She’s been known as Wilson’s right hand, having latched onto him once he joined the Order. Next to her is Sebastian Blood, another one of Slade’s lackeys. From the few times that Felicity has had to work with him, he’s the Order’s own fanatic. He managed to get most of the Order’s lower ranking Templars with his “Blood cult,” appropriately named after himself. Blood is a little self-obsessed, believing that with the power of one of the Pieces of Eden, the Shroud of Eden, will allow him to give control of the world over to the Templar Order.

For now, it’s just the four of them, making Felicity wonder what exactly this meeting is about. She’s been a part of a few meetings, but only after her father abandoned her and her mother, leaving Felicity to take on his debts to the Order to keep her mother alive. Once she finished her degree at MIT and training as a Templar–combat and stealth training, history of the Order– and advanced her skills in the technology and science fields, they inducted her as their official tech specialist, replacing her father.

At first, Felicity wasn’t sure why they needed her father, let alone herself. So far, they’ve just been using her to find information, usually on Assassins, and create handy weapons for other Templars to use on missions. When they invite her (more like force her) to attend meetings, it’s usually to present a new tool for them to use or report on information they’ve asked her to find.

Apparently, the last information on the Assassins had given her had been essential to the Inner Sanctum’s main mission. She hated helping them. She hadn’t even meant to this time. Not really. She’d been secretly feeding information to the Assassins over the past few years, ever since she’d made her first contact with one on her first field mission. When she’d fed the Order information about the little mission based on an island in the North China Sea, she hadn’t thought much of it. In fact, Felicity thought it wasn’t so significant, but just enough to hide the fact that she’d been anonymously feeding the Brotherhood information on the Templars too. And she’d been feeding that information to Robert Queen. Who was killed because she was trying to save her own ass. Felicity didn’t like helping the Templars kill people, especially heads of the Assassin Brotherhood, who could potentially end the Order, but she didn’t want to risk her mother’s life. Most likely, her assistance in that mission officially initiated her into the Inner Sanctum’s line of sight.

Even so, it is rare for the Inner Sanctum to invite all of its members to a meeting. One or two members would head the meeting, most of the time it was Slade or the CEO of the company the Templar use to hide their secret society. But never the Grandmaster, who is potentially the most criminal creature on the planet. He lacks mercy, and if you push him too far, he would strike back with ten times over. However, he’s always been a secretive man. One rarely sees him in the offices, but he’s never seen leaving the building. He just takes the elevator down and never comes back up until he is needed.

So it is to Felicity’s surprise when Grandmaster Damien Darhk walks in, side-by-side the CEO of Merlyn Global, Malcolm Merlyn.

“Good! We’re all here!” Darhk says with a clap of his hands. He has a creepy smile on his face, as though he has all the power in the world and nothing in the world could stop him. But Felicity has power too. She just has to figure out how to get the upper hand. “Let’s begin so we can end this quickly and you little worker bees can get working on our new exciting project.”

* * *

He and Thea ride in the back in silence. Thea seems tired. Oliver observes her for a few minutes, looking over her tiny frame. Her eyes are puffy and there is a slight hint of tear tracks running down her cheeks. She is leaning her head against the glass window of the town car, eyes closed, but he could tell she isn’t sleeping.

Her words at the cemetery inspired Oliver to think about the circumstances of his father’s death. It was a mission gone wrong. A mission turned into a fight against an old friend. A deserter. Emotions had clogged his judgment, and his father paid the price for it.

But next time, his emotions won’t get the best of him. And next time, he’ll have his most trusted companion with him.

His eyes glance over to the person driving the town car. John Diggle. By day, he plays the role of Oliver Queen’s bodyguard, but in secret, he’s been Oliver’s brother, his partner, in the Brotherhood of Assassins. When Oliver’ not doing solo missions, Digg’s by his side.

If only he’d been there with Oliver. Instead, Oliver had him stay with Thea, paranoid that the Templars would be after her. But he’d been wrong. The Templars had the upper hand. They knew what to expect from his father. They knew what choices he’d make if his children were in danger. Somehow, they knew things about his father that Oliver himself didn’t know. The sins of his father that Oliver never thought his father was capable of. So he got angry. And his anger cost him a father. Maybe if Diggle had been there, he would’ve been able to snap Oliver out of his rage, or at least stop Isabel Rochev, the subject of his father’s past, from firing that killing blow.

But Oliver can’t think about that now. He can’t let the past consume his thoughts. That is exactly what got his father killed in the first place. Now, he has to take action with the present and future in mind.

His father’s funeral had ended a couple hours ago, and everyone except Thea and himself had left, even his mother. His mother, Moira Queen, although filled with grief over her husband’s death, had not been surprised when Oliver told her of Robert’s past sins. She’d known that he’d been cheating on her and had known that their marriage was holding on to the edge, only being sustained by their children. Still, although he could see his mother’s resentment towards his father’s actions, Oliver could tell that his death has its effects on her. After the funeral ended, he watched his mother take one longing look toward the grave before walking away with the Assassin Council, who had been pushing for a Council meeting to discuss who would be taking Robert’s place in the group, surely a lengthy meeting.

Oliver squares his shoulders when Diggle drives through the gates and pulls up to the Queen family mansion. He knows that the Assassin Council and his mother will be waiting for him to discuss the matters of his father’s demise.

Even though Oliver has a strong sense of determination to both uphold his family legacy as a member of the Brotherhood, he had always hated these kinds of meetings. They were almost like the meetings he has to attend as an executive of his family’s Fortune 500 company, just a tad more interesting. He is a man of action, tending to get antsy when he is forced to sit in a chair while listening to a group of people, for the most part, talk at him instead of to him.

Thea must sense the tension that slowly builds in his frame. The car had already stopped in the driveway, and they’d probably been sitting there in silence for a few minutes while Oliver prepared himself for a tense meeting.

She reaches out and holds his hand. “It’s gonna be okay, Ollie. You’ll be in and out of there before you know it.”

Oliver ticks a brow up as he turns to look at her. “I would just rather start suiting up and going after the Templars responsible for this.”

“And you will. But for now, you have to deal with making sure that dad’s legacy won’t be ruined. No matter what horrible things Dad has done in the past, he was still the man who raised us to be pretty good human beings.”

Oliver’s shoulders tense even more. Does she know..?

“Don’t act so surprised,” Thea says, squeezing his hand for a second. “I don’t know what he did, but I have noticed that you and Mom have been a little weird when people tell us what a great man he was.”

“Thea...”

She shakes her head, both in negation and dejection. “It’s okay, Ollie. I’m not asking you to tell me what he did. I’m just saying that despite his sins, he was still our father.”

Despite the negativity swirling around his head, he gives her a small smile. “You really are the best out of all of us, Thea.”

And of course, because she’s Thea, and because she doesn’t let anything bring her down, she gives him the biggest smile he hasn’t seen since their father’s death. “As you keep telling me.” They both make their way out of the car, their hands still attached. With Diggle behind them, they walk toward the front door.

Once they arrive, Thea turns to Oliver. “Good luck in there, okay?”

“Okay.”

She goes on the tip of her toes and gives him a tight hug. “I love you, Ollie.”

“I love you, too, Speedy.”

Then she lets go, with a look of exasperation on her face. “And there it is with that nickname. Will you stop calling me that? I’m not a little girl anymore.”

He opens the door for her and they all walk through. “I’ll stop calling you ‘Speedy’ the day you stop calling me ‘Ollie’.”

Thea huffs. “Whatever. I’ll be upstairs. I gotta get out of this depressing wardrobe. See ya at dinner!”

Oliver gives her another small smile. “See ya.”

He watches her go up the stairs before turning to Diggle.

“They’re waiting for you in the study,” his partner says. “You ready?”

“Let’s just get this over with.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, be sure to comment and check out my [Tumblr](http://nerdyandturdy.tumblr.com/). You'll get the heads up of what time I'll be posting, or if I'll be late (I apologize ahead of time. My second year of college will be starting in two weeks so I'll be getting busy). But you might also get some sneak peeks! Thanks, everyone!


	3. New Missions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm afraid Oliver and Felicity won't be meeting yet, but don't worry! They will soon enough! Since I'll be going back to school in about a week, my schedule may be a little hectic, so I apologize in advance if chapters start coming out late. I'm trying to crunch out as many chapters as I can muster before I move into my apartment this weekend. But anyway, please enjoy this new chapter! I'm so glad this story is getting positive feedback!

“So what exactly did you call us in for? I’ve got an early fundraiser tomorrow to help boost my numbers and it’s getting late,” Blood says. Did Felicity mention he’s running for mayor? Of course, he started his campaign right after the Templars had the previous mayor of Star City killed. That’s the Templar way. Do whatever it takes to get the power you want.

Darhk turns to Blood with that unsettling smile of his. “Right to the chase I see, Mr. Blood. Or should I say Mayor Blood?”

“Yes, well it seems the people of Star City have taken a liking to the poor orphan from the Glades,” Blood replies.

“Speaking of the Glades, that brings us right to the subject of our next little project. Malcolm, would you care to explain?”

Felicity sees Merlyn turn on his own creepy smirk. She always thought him as a creepy man. He joined the Order shortly after his wife was killed in the Glades. He left his son, nine years old at the time, while he went off to train under one of the Order’s most dangerous Grandmasters, residing somewhere underneath the Hindu Kush. When he returned, he integrated the Order into his company, essentially giving the Templars the power and wealth they needed to start taking control over Star City.

Of course, the Assassins have been giving the Order some trouble in that area, which is why they’ve been forcing Felicity to work them for the past few years. 

“Thank you, Mr. Darhk,” Merlyn says, nodding his head toward the Grandmaster. “Ladies and gentlemen, we are here because, in order to make this city fit to the standards of the Order, we need to get rid of the cockroaches infesting our city. Does anyone have any idea where these cockroaches are?”

Slade raises an eyebrow and says, “The Glades…”

“Exactly. In order to make this city the great city it must be for the Father of Understanding, for our great Order, we must get rid of the Glades.”

“And how do you suppose we do that?” Rochev asks, shooting Merlyn a skeptical look.

“We are going to level the Glades with an earthquake machine.”

Felicity freezes. For the most of this meeting, she had just been a spectator, watching with cold eyes as the people part of the organization keeping her and her mother from living normal lives conversed with each other. But this part of the conversation sparks something inside her.

“You’re going to do what with what?” Felicity questions with two eyebrows raised and two wide eyes. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Rochev roll her eyes at her. Felicity throws her a quick glare before turning her attention back to Merlyn.

“As you may know, Merlyn Global has been interested in buying up Unidac Industries for a few months now,” Merlyn starts. Felicity remembers the files. While they are coming up with brilliant technological advances, Unidac simply has no money to fund their projects, so they are putting the company up for auction. The Order looking into hiring an assassin, but not an  _ Assassin _ . He’s a sniper that goes by the name of Deadshot, though his real name is Floyd Lawton. How these people come up with these names, Felicity will never know. Anyway, the Order plans to hire Lawton so the Assassins will think a bidder had hired him to take care of the competition. Which is true, since he’ll technically be working for Merlyn Global. Felicity thinks Darhk honestly just wants to create some chaos. Hopefully, Felicity can find some way to warn the Assassins about their plan.

Merlyn continues, “For these past few months, Merlyn Global has been looking into a Unidac  project headed up by Dr. Brion Markov, rightly named the Markov device.”

“And this device is supposed to create earthquakes?” Blood asks.

“Precisely, Mr. Blood. Initially, before funding, this project was just supposed to be a simulator for researchers to study earthquakes in a controlled environment.”

Darhk joins in, “But with a little, well, ‘persuasion’, we convinced Dr. Markov to enhance his device.”

Felicity fears his methods of persuasion for Markov, if they’re anything like how he “persuaded” her to join the Order. 

“The device has been frozen in development since it lacks funding. But once we acquire the company, in a few short months the device will be ready to destroy the Glades, and finally allow Genesis to begin.”

_ Of course _ . Genesis. The Order’s crazy plan to somehow attempt to create the catastrophe that basically gave the world a restart, millions of years ago. But instead of the Templars and Assassins to rise from the ashes of destruction, the Order plans to create the world anew with only Templars at the top.

“It seems that you have your plan all figured out,” Slade says. “Why exactly are we here?”

Darhk answers, “Because we need you four to distract our little friends in the Assassin Brotherhood.”

Slade actually grins at that, which is a strange sight, since he usually wears a scowl with his graying beard. Yet another creepy smile ingrained into Felicity’s memory.

“Ah. I knew you would like that Mr. Wilson,” Darhk wears his creepy grin again.

“For some unknown reason, the Brotherhood has been able to catch wind of some of our plans,” Merlyn states. Felicity tries not to sink into herself. Fortunately, no one seems to glance in her direction and signal to her that they suspect anything. “However, thanks to the help of Miss Smoak, who gave us vital information on one of the Brotherhood’s missions to acquire one of the sacred pieces of Eden that we own, we’ve been able to kickstart your new assignment.”

“As we all know, the Queen family has been an integral part of the Assassin Brotherhood branch of Star City since the first of them arrived here generations ago,” Darhk explains. “Because of the information Miss Smoak provided us, we were able to not only stop their mission to the island, we were able to kill the one of the Brotherhood’s most prominent members, Robert Queen.”

Felicity has learned to keep her emotions to herself while the Templars have kept her captive, for her facial expression barely changes. But on the inside, her heart stops for a second. She hadn’t known that the island the Assassins had been headed to is a Templar base. She hadn’t known that the mission she’d thought was just a small operation would be so important to both sides. She hadn’t known that Robert Queen, the Assassin she’d been anonymously feeding information to, had been on the mission. She’d led him to his death. How would the Assassins take her in now? Her conscience could not possibly allow her to hide her hand in Robert Queen’s death from them.

Slade interrupts her thoughts. “But with Robert Queen’s death, wouldn’t they be working harder against us? Especially the Queen kid…” He says the last part with an almost snarl, and Felicity wonders what sort of beef he has with Robert’s son, Oliver Queen.

“But young Mr. Queen is also one of the Brotherhood’s leading assassins. He’ll be too focused on dealing with the aftershocks of his father’s death to focus on our real mission,” Merlyn answers. “Plus, when he finds out that it was your team that conducted his death, he’ll surely be on your trail instead of ours.”

“This sounds like a great plan,” Rochev says with her own evil smirk. Felicity wishes she could call it creepy, but unfortunately, Rochev has that leggy model thing going for her.

Gathering up all the courage she can muster and willing her voice not to break, Felicity decides to speak up again, her heart hammering. “Sorry to interrupt your enjoyment of another man’s suffering, but what exactly am I doing here? I only provided the information that allowed our mission to be successful.”

Both Darhk and Merlyn exchange a glance and creepy grins. Then Darhk answers her, “You, Miss Smoak, get to experience the free world for the first time in years.” He tilts his head for a moment before continuing. “Well, experience it with a few restrictions.”

Felicity stills, her heart beating a little faster at the prospect of leaving the gray walls of the Templar facility hiding under Merlyn Global.

“You will be starting as the new member of Queen Consolidated’s IT Department. After your interview with the company’s new CEO, of course,” Merlyn explains. “Once you get in, you will slowly gather all information about the company, the Queen family, and the Assassins as you can get and provide that to the Order.”

Felicity must give away some concern or a sign of defiance on her face because Darhk’s face suddenly hardens. “And you will do this to the best of your ability, or else your mother won’t be living in that cozy house we have her in anymore.”

She wills herself to calm down, her fists clenching in her lap. “... Yes, sir.”

“Good,” he says with a satisfied smile.

“Do we all understand our mission?” Merlyn asks.

Everyone nods.

“Then this meeting is adjourned. May the Father of Understanding guide us.”

“May the Father of Understanding guide us,” everyone else answers back. Felicity is too busy worrying her lip. How the hell is she going to pull this off and get away from the Templars?

* * *

 

Oliver walks into his late father’s study to find the Council of the Star City branch of the Brotherhood. His mother, still in the black dress she’d worn for the funeral service, sits at his father’s desk, seemingly distracted by the group of photos that adorn the top. However, when she notices him walking in and closing the door behind him, she wipes the stray tear that escaped one of her eyes and puts on her business mask.

“Oliver…”

“Hey, Mom. You doing okay?” Oliver wishes he could go up to her and hug her, but with the rest of the Council there, he knows it would be unprofessional, and though she would gladly take comfort from her son, he knows she would refuse.

“I’ve been better… But now is not the time to be swallowed up in grief.”

Moira Queen is a strong woman. Oliver of all people knows that. But he can tell she’s hanging on the edge. Even though Robert Queen was not the best husband to her in all their years of marriage, he was still her husband and the father of her children. 

“Your mother is right, Mr. Queen,” a voice to his right says. Amanda Waller. Head of A.R.G.U.S., a secret government agency and one of the Brotherhood Councilmembers. How she ever came to be a part of the Brotherhood, Oliver has no idea. If anything, she seems to be more like a Templar. Yet, her drive to keep the world out of the hands of the Templars is evident. He found that out when he worked under her for a brief moment in time, while he was still learning the ropes.

Oliver glances at her before replying, “Amanda, thank you for coming to the service, but you can drop the formalities. You know I prefer ‘Oliver.’” 

Walter Steele, another Councilmember steps forward. “Robert was a great man, a dear friend, an excellent member of the Brotherhood, Oliver. Of course, we of the Council would be here. Especially given the circumstances of his demise.”

“Yeah, Queen. I may not be your biggest fan, but I had great respect for your father,” says Captain Quentin Lance of SCPD, also a part of the Council. He’s never looked at Oliver with much affection, so the look of sincerity actually makes Oliver more uncomfortable than he already is. He’s almost glad when Lance continues, “Probably why I haven’t killed you yet.”

Of course, Lance will always hold a grudge against Oliver. He did screw around with both of his daughters at one point in time, when he was a different man. A boy, in fact.

Oliver simply nods at everyone and walks over to his mother to stand at her side. She looks zoned out until Oliver places a hand on her shoulder and squeezes gently, bringing her mind back to the world. 

“I know that this is so soon after Robert’s death, but we need to start taking action as soon as possible,” Waller begins. “The Templars made a direct hit at us and are using that to its advantage. We need Queen Consolidated back on its feet.”

Everyone looks at Moira, who puts on a strong face, but Oliver, due to his proximity to her, can see her hand shaking in her lap.

“What exactly do you mean, Amanda?” she says, shooting a half-hearted cold glare at the woman.

“What I’m saying, Moira, is that you are not currently in the right state of mind to be running a company, much less organizing a few from our Brotherhood working at this company to counter the attacks from the Templars.” Amanda steps closer to the desk. “You’ve barely done a thing since your husband has been killed.”

Then it strikes Oliver. While being wrapped up in his own grief and shame, he has neglecting to recognize the pain that his mother is going through. Ever since he came back from the mission with just a graze on his shoulder and his father’s body, he hasn’t even tried to console his mother, only quietly apologizing that he couldn’t save his dad before slinking back into his own grief riddled state. He had barely even consoled his sister, who, although shedding tears since their father’s death, had spent most of the time making sure that he hadn’t gone off the rails. Wasn’t he a great family member?

Waller continues, “I know it is wrong of me to expect this from a grieving woman, but we need to stop the Templars before they do any more damage to the Brotherhood. And Queen Consolidated is a key part to that.”

His mother continues to glare at Waller, before dropping the strong face she has held together and adopts a tired saddened one. She sighs before agreeing, “I guess you’re right Amanda...” His mother’s shoulders drop and she sounds as if she’s taking defeat. “I haven’t been the most help lately. My husband’s… death is something not easily gotten over. As CFO and close friend, Walter has been taking care of QC.”

Amanda looks to Walter, silently asking for a confirmation, and he nods.

“Then that settles that. Mr. Steele will take over as CEO until the foreseeable future.”

Oliver feels his mother become even more saddened. Walter seems to take notice too and speaks up.

“Actually, I was thinking that Oliver should be the one to take over, if anyone is going to.”

The room remains silent for a moment. And then a snort follows.

“You’re kidding, right? Mr. Ollie Queen here, in charge of a Fortune 500 company and a huge operation against the Order?” Lance doesn’t seem to be able to hold in his disbelief and honest amusement of the idea of Oliver becoming CEO. 

Oliver himself almost agrees with him. If he can’t even take care of his own family, how is he supposed to take care of a whole company?

“Oliver has shown much improvement from his times as a carefree boy, Quentin,” Walter argues. “He has become an exceptional assassin. Plus, I believe this is what his father would have wanted.”

Waller and Lance seem to contemplate the idea. Oliver’s mother looks up at Oliver fondly, resting a hand on his forearm before saying, “Walter is right. Your father would be very happy to see you taking on the position he always wanted you to have.”

Oliver doesn’t know what to say. He never really thought about taking over QC when he was growing up. Even when his parents had told him that he would be the one to inherit the company when he had gotten older, but not much more mature. But now, with his family picking up the broken pieces that his father’s death has left, Oliver is seriously considering the job. 

Amanda takes her turn to pitch in. “I do believe this will also allow Mr. Queen to manage his anger issues, given they played a hand during his last mission.” Oliver glares at her. He knows he screwed up with Slade. He doesn’t need another stab in the gut to remind him that his father could still be alive if not for him. For the most part, the room chooses to ignore Waller’s comment, save for his mother, who lowers her head. “Okay, Mr. Steele. We’ll give Mr. Queen his chance. Of course, you’ll be teaching him how to pull the ropes?” 

Walter nods. “Yes. Because I’ve worked so closely with Robert all these years, I’m very familiar with QC. And if Oliver agrees, I’ll slowly ease him into running the operations involving the Brotherhood.”

Everyone looks to Oliver. He doesn’t really know what to say. He never really imagined himself being CEO, never really saw himself in any sort of leadership position. He’s known that his parents had wanted him to take over when it was time for Robert to retire, but they’d realized Oliver barely had any interest in it. But here he is with the Council, discussing Oliver taking on his father’s legacy. 

Oliver doesn’t really want to say yes. But he takes one more look at his mother, noticing the dark circles under her eyes and her pale complexion. Has she already started losing that much weight?

“... Okay,” Oliver answers, staring straight into his mother’s eyes. He tries to convey the conviction he has. He will take his father’s place and try to fix their broken family. And when everything is set, he’ll take down the Templars, no matter the cost.

“That’s it? That’s all you’re going to say? ‘Okay?’” Lance doesn’t seem to believe that Oliver has this amount of determination to sit down and let others take action against the Order. Because Oliver knows what taking over as CEO of Queen Consolidated means. Even though he’ll be able to run operations that involve QC and the Brotherhood, he won’t be directly in the line of fire. He’ll have to sit back and let others physically fight against the Order. 

But Oliver knows he has to do this. His family needs him to calm down. He has always had an issue with impulsive actions. That’s exactly what pushed his old mentor away, leading to his father’s murder. Now, he has to be someone else. Something else. 

“I’ll do it. It’s what my father would want,” Oliver replies to Lance. Looking straight into his eyes, he continues, “This way you won’t have to worry about me going off the rails… again.”

This seems to convince Lance, because the Captain holds Oliver’s stare for a little longer before nodding.

“Then congratulations, Mr. Queen. You are now one of the youngest CEO’s of a major company,” Waller tells him; though with her, it’s hard to tell whether she’s being sincere or doubtful. “But there is another issue involving Queen Consolidated that we must address.”

“And what is that?”

“The Templars seems to have some sort of technological genius on their side,” Waller clarifies. “There is no way they should have known about the mission that led to your father’s death.”

“It’s true. All the meetings we’ve had, save for one, discussing the mission to investigate the piece of Eden hidden on Lian Yu, were all in person,” Lance adds. 

“Any documentation of the mission, travel plans and what not, were locked away with the most complicated encryption that our QC tech experts could muster,” Walter explains. “This past week, the IT Department has been fending off attacks on QC’s firewall, each attack getting stronger and stronger.”

“So what do we do?” Oliver questions. He barely knows a thing about computers. He’d rather deal with things with his fists, but that wouldn’t be of much help here.

“We must find someone to replace our soon-to-be-fired Head of IT.”

“Isn’t that a little drastic? It couldn’t be his fault that the Templars have an expert at their side.”

“Actually, Mr. Rowan is quite the incompetent leader,” to which Oliver raises an eyebrow at. “Robert, and well, the whole board, really, were so focused on the Applied Science Department that we’ve neglected a very important part of QC. We never realized that Mr. Rowan has become too caught up with his paycheck to do any real work.”

“Which is why, you, Mr. Queen, and Mr. Steele will work on finding Mr. Rowan a replacement,” Waller injects. “The Council will, of course, evaluate each candidate as well. This person will be a vital part of the Brotherhood’s mission to stop the Templars, so he or she must be trustworthy to the Brotherhood.”

“We’d gladly send one of our men from the Brotherhood to take his,” Lance says, “but frankly, we have no one with that much expertise with cyber security.”

“So, Mr. Queen,” Waller begins, “are you up for the challenge?”

He looks at each member of the Council, who are all looking intently at him, before looking back down at his mother, who is giving him the same look.

“I don’t have much of a choice, do I?”

Surprisingly, it’s his mother that answers. “I’m afraid so, Oliver.”

“Okay then.”

Oliver starts heading towards the door.

“Wait, Queen,” Lance says, his arm out to prevent Oliver from moving forward. “There’s one more thing.”

Oliver prevents himself from groaning in frustration. What more could there be?

“We believe there could be… a traitor in our midst,” Waller says in a hard voice.Oliver stills. A traitor? “Given what happened with Mr. Wilson, we can’t be too careful.”

“The bastard may have lackeys still under his wing in the Brotherhood,” Lance huffs out. 

Oliver clenches his jaw. “So what do you want me to do about it?”

“We’re just trying to warn you, Oliver, “ Walter tries to comfort him. “Whoever this traitor is may have been the reason for your father’s death.”

Oliver sees his mother’s mask crumble a bit.

“I’ll be careful,” Oliver says. “But you can rule out the Diggles. They’re all innocent. They’ve been at my side this entire time.”

“Even Andrew Diggle?” Waller questions.

Oliver hadn’t been thinking about him when he referred to John and Lyla. “... I will talk to John about this traitor issue and get back to you.”

“Then rest easy, Oliver.” Walter pats him on the shoulder and gently nudges him towards the door. “You’ll have a big day tomorrow.”

Right. He’ll be wanted to be inducted as CEO as soon as possible. 

Oliver pauses. “... Good evening.”

Then he walks out the door, immediately noticing his partner waiting not that far away from the door.

Diggle stands straight from leaning against the wall. “How’d it go?”

Oliver takes a breath. “You... are looking at the new CEO of Queen Consolidated.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, be sure to check out my Tumblr, [nerdyandturdy](nerdyandturdy.tumblr.com). I'll be announcing anytime an update will be late or early. Maybe you guys will get a sneak peek of a future chapter! Send me a message if you want, and maybe I'll give you some hints as to what will happen. I do have a base outline on where I want this fic to go... :) Thanks for reading!


	4. Relocation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity finally moves out of the underground of Merlyn Global.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter! I'm getting a lot busier now because classes start on Thursday. I just moved into my new apartment and I haven't been able to work on this fic a lot, but luckily I'm a couple chapters ahead. Hopefully, since it'll be the start of classes, I won't have much to for school this weekend. Anyway, go ahead and enjoy this new chapter!

Chapter 4

Today is actually the day.

Felicity crams her last pieces of tech inside her duffle bag, making sure to stuff them in between her clothes to prevent them from getting damage. She feels a sense of deja vu. Just a few weeks ago, she was doing the very same thing she is doing now, but with a lot more anxiety. Don’t get her wrong. This whole plan to infiltrate Queen Consolidated and the Brotherhood is dangerous, and if the Templars catch her pulling off her double agent plan, she’s dead. But this time, she doesn’t have to worry about hiding from the most dangerous people in the world. She’ll be free, kind of. At the very least, she’ll be out of her prison cell of a room. Felicity just hopes she can get through all of this alive.

Felicity checks her bag of tech a third time, making sure everything is inside and nothing will get damaged during her relocation (as the Templars have been calling it). Since they’re bringing her on as a spy on the Brotherhood, the Templars are allowing her to bring whatever piece of tech MG could provide her. For once, Felicity thanks her father, just for the fact that he brought her into the tech world. She is experienced and smart enough to create her own tech, so since she only has parts, the Templars won’t catch onto any devices that may be used against them. 

Making sure everything is all packed (and once again, Felicity laments that she owns so little), Felicity takes one last look at the room that has been her prison cell for the past five years. She won’t miss it. 

* * *

Felicity stands aside as a couple MG employees, who are most likely Templars as well, load the van with her things. Beside her are Merlyn himself, Rochev, and Slade. Thank God Damien Darhk didn’t decide to see her off. The man gives her the creeps.

Merlyn turns to her. “Miss Smoak.”

Felicity tries not to shrink as Merlyn creates eye contact with her. All the Templars are creeps. “Yes?”

“I realize that the past five years you’ve been with us have been hard on you.”

_ No shit. _

“But you’ve done a lot of hard work for our cause.”

Although Darhk had threatened her mother’s safety when they had assigned her mission, Felicity’s hope rises. “...So you’ll let my mother go?”

Merlyn actually laughs at her. “No, we will not be. We do need to make sure you stay on task, Miss Smoak.” Felicity mentally waves her hope goodbye. “However, we will plan on giving you some relief.”

“And what is this ‘relief?’”

“We’ve given you enough expenses to cover your rent for a few months until you get paid enough to cover it,” Merlyn states.

Thanks. How thoughtful of you.

“And should you need any more, feel free to contact us.”

Felicity tries to hide the snark she knows is in her voice. “Thank you, Mr. Merlyn.”

He definitely notices, given the fact that he raises an eyebrow. “Try not to be too excited, Miss Smoak. Though I think you will be truly happy about this next part.”

It’s Felicity’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“You’ve been under our wing long enough for us to gain some of our trust. And we also trust that you have enough love for that mother of yours that you will try your hardest not to betray us… correct?”

And another threat. The only gifts the Templars ever seem to give her. “Yes.”

“Good. So you’ll be happy to know that we will be giving you your freedom and privacy.”

What?

“You’ll be getting your privacy.”

“Okay yes, I heard you the first time but what exactly do you mean?” When she was first assigned this mission, Felicity figured that they’d be keeping an eye on her. Someone living not so far away from her place keeping tabs on her. Some bugs planted in her new house. She’d been expecting both options. She didn’t mind having a Templar bodyguard across the street. She could easily just close all the blinds if she needed privacy. The bugs would be easy to dismantle or temporarily disable if she needed to. But here’s Malcolm Merlyn, possibly, maybe definitely telling her that she wouldn’t need to do all these things.

“I assume you have assumed that we will be keeping tabs on you, extra security to make sure that you won’t be straying away from your mission,” Merlyn explains. Felicity nods. “Well, you won’t have to worry about that. You have proven yourself worthy to be trusted, Miss Smoak.”

“So what?” Felicity needs to make sure that he’s really telling the truth. “No bugs, no tail?”

He shakes his head. “No. None of the sort.”

“...What’s the catch?”

“No catch. Even though you work for us under duress, I see that you have come to embrace your place in the Order.” Has she really? “Maybe someday soon, you’ll actually be inducted.”

Felicity studies his face for a second. His eye contact and confident stature convince Felicity that he really seems to believe that she’ll want to be a part of their messed up organization. 

“And maybe someday, when you become an outstanding addition to the Order, you’ll get to see your mother once again.”

The thought of her mother fills her up with hope before Felicity remembers that Merlyn and Darhk and the rest of the Order are a bunch of evil, power hungry killers. She mentally shakes it off.

“Maybe some day I will,” she says, putting on a mask of appreciation. “Thank you very much, Mr. Merlyn.”

“You are welcome, Miss Smoak,” he replies, at first smiling. Then he drops it, and his gaze turns into a glower. “Do not make me regret this.”

She tries not to gulp. “You won’t.”

“Good.”

And with that, Merlyn turns around and heads back into the building.

Felicity starts heading toward the van, which has been ready for her for the past few minutes when Slade speaks up.

“Try not to get caught up with Queen, kid,” he warns her. “He’ll get all your loved ones killed.”

“... Okay?” So Oliver Queen definitely did something to make Slade turn over to the dark side.

“And don’t sleep with him. That’ll get you killed too.”

Felicity decides to play along. She can’t gain their trust if she doesn’t at least act like a teammate. “Like I would ever sleep with Oliver Queen.” She knows she doesn’t mean the next part, but it still hurts her soul that she says with a scoff, “A man who can’t even protect his own father?”

Slade smirks at that. “Bit of a turnoff, eh? Since you’ve been protecting your mother all these years.”

She will punch the next person who mentions her mother. “Yeah.”

“Well, good luck, kid.” He shakes her hand and starts walking away.

But before she can finally leave the place, Isabitch decides to give her a sentimental goodbye. Hah.

Isabel grabs her arm, and when Slade is far enough from hearing range, she almost snarls at her. “I’m onto you, Smoak.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I have my suspicions about you. Everyone around here may be buying your stupid act, but I know. You’re up to something.”

Felicity rolls her eyes. Seriously? Well, she is up to something, but Isabel seems to be the only one that actually thinks so. Like the Templars would even believe Isabel, the total bitch and rumored lover of Robert Queen. “And what makes you think that, Rochev? Do you have any proof?”

Isabel hardens her glare.

“Exactly.” Felicity beams her best smug smile. “See you later, Isabel!”

She quickly gets in the car just so she can slam the door in Isabel’s face. Felicity thinks she sees her growl as she stalks back into the underground entrance of Merlyn Global.

Felicity blows out a breath. Once she is buckled in, the van starts moving, and she slumps in her seat, visibly relaxing now that she doesn’t have to interact with any of those people for a long while.

Thank God.

* * *

Oliver didn’t think he could be more exhausted. One would think that going out at night and stopping Templar operations would be more tiring than paperwork, but it is just past 10 in the morning and Oliver already needs a nap. 

He’s been staring at weekly reports for over an hour and his brain is already rattled. On top of that, he feels antsier than ever. If it was up to him, Oliver would get up, grab Digg on the way out and get in some training to release his pent up energy. But of course, he has a meeting at 10:30 with HR to gather up candidates for the Head of IT. 

Oliver glances out the large window in his office. What he would do to just run out on the rooftops and soar through the air. Despite the hardships of being a part of the Brotherhood, Oliver will always find some sort of joy in being out there and feeling free. Jumping from building to building, showing off to his partner who couldn’t quite catch onto the whole parkour thing like Oliver has. Thea, much to his annoyance, still calls him a bunny whenever she watches him do his circuit training. 

He still has some pent up anger too, and barely has time to release it. Oliver wants to go out there and take out the Templars. Especially Slade. He doesn’t need his old mentor hanging around and hurting his family anymore.

But the Council has vetoed any more missions including Oliver, saying he would be a danger to his brethren should they encounter anyone involved with the failed mission that ended in his father’s death. He wants to deny it, but everyone, including him, knows it’s true. And he hates that.

At least Diggle is still around. A true partner and best friend, Diggle decided that he’d sit on the sidelines with his partner. Oliver had, of course, encouraged his friend to go ahead and partner up with his brother Andy, but ever since Andy was caught dealing drugs, the younger Diggle has lost the trust of the Brotherhood and his older brother.

Oliver’s thoughts are interrupted when Diggle himself knocks on his office door and enters.

“Hey, man. How’s the paperwork going?”

Oliver sigh once more and shakes his head. “I’d rather be punched in the gut than having to read all of this.”

Digg gives his signature nod and laugh. “You would, college dropout.”

“Hey! At least I went to four of them,” Oliver defends. Diggle just laughs at him. “You got the better job, Diggle.”

“What? Standing around all day waiting for you?”

As a front, Diggle has been acting as Oliver’s bodyguard for the past few years, ever since Oliver got his act together. In order to keep appearances, and to have an excuse to having his partner with him during undercover missions at public events, they’d decided it was best for Oliver to pretend to be his former “Ollie Queen” persona.

But Digg does have a point. “At least your eyes aren’t bleeding. And you don’t have to deal with the all the Board.”

“Still looking down on you, huh?”

“That’s what I get for being a former playboy…”

“Heh. No kidding,” Diggle laughs. Even in his boiling emotions, at least Oliver still has some sort of humor left in him. “Hey, you have plans after work?”

“No, why?”

“You up for some training?”

“Yes, please, Digg. I need to get out of here.”

Diggle just laughs at him again. “I knew you were anxious.”

“When am I not?”

* * *

Thankfully for Felicity, she didn’t have to deal with buying her own furniture. The townhouse they’d moved her into was fully furnished when she walked in. She just had to set up her internet and TV, which she did right away before unpacking.

Storing her bags in the hallway closet, Felicity returns to her bedroom, looking pitifully at her own closet.

“This is so sad.”

Ever since the Templars had moved her into their base after her graduation, Felicity only really had her clothes from college and some wardrobe a few of the nicer female Templars had provided her. 

She’s been wearing black and gray and all the dullest hand me downs she could imagine. Staring at the full-length mirror attached to the closet door, at her too dark clothes, her too dark makeup, and her too dark hair, Felicity knows she needs a change. She wants to get rid of the past few years stuck in the base with dark rooms and no sunlight. 

It won’t hurt anyway, she thinks. They had basically given her unlimited finances if she needed them. And a makeover would definitely boost her chances of landing the job at Queen Consolidated. 

But is she really going to pull this off? She didn’t really have a choice when this mission was assigned to her. But could they really trust her to do this? Could she trust herself?

Even if she manages to get the job at QC, could she even get close to any of the Assassin working there? And if she did, could she even get them to trust her? Even if that happens, there is no guarantee that she won’t get caught. The Assassins could catch her before she is even able to tell them about her situation. The Order could catch her aiding the Assassins instead of them. Either way, she is probably dead.

There are too many what-ifs with her life. And it is scaring the hell out of her.

* * *

_ Smack! Smack! _

_ Jab! Duck! Punch! _

The few weeks in which Oliver has been acting as CEO really killed his stamina. He’d only been able to workout a few times, and all the other times, his brain had been to exhaust him to even allow more than just a workout. So Oliver is already coming out short of breath.

“You’re losing your touch, man,” Diggle teases him.

Oliver sucks in another breath and wipes the sweat from his forehead. “You try running a company when you barely have any experience.”

He must say it with a little more bite than intended because Diggle raises his hands. 

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to snap.”

“It’s okay. I know you’re frustrated.”

Oliver takes a swig from his water bottle and then says,“I just wish they’d let me go out there just a little bit.”

“And you know that’s a bad idea, Ollie.” It’s only then that Oliver notices his little sister coming down the stairs into their workout space in their small Brotherhood base of operations. He really is losing his touch already.

“Speedy? What are you doing here?”

“Just checking in on my dear older brother. I haven’t seen much of you lately.”

“I’ve been working.”

“Like I said, I wanted to check in on you,” Thea replies, giving him a pointed look. He has the will to look just a tad sheepish. “I also wanted to ask you something.”

“What is it?

“Seeing as tomorrow is Saturday and you don’t have work, I was hoping you could go shopping with me.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Why would I need to go shopping?”

“Well, you don’t. But I need to.”

Oliver would much rather spend his time training and trying to convince the Council to let him go out at least once this weekend. “Speedy. You have enough clothing. And I have things to do.”

“First, I do not have enough clothing. A girl could never have enough clothing.” 

He rolls his eyes and looks to Diggle. The bastard has an amused smile as he shrugs at him.

“Second, I know that those ‘things’ you have to do is letting out your frustration by beating somebody to a pulp, whether that’s Digg or some Templar thug.”

Oliver clenches his jaw. She’d got him there. Diggle has the nerve to laugh out loud.

“Please, Ollie…” she begs, looking up at him with those annoying persuasive puppy dog eyes of hers.

“... Fine.”

“Great!” Thea actually jumps and hugs him. But then immediately regrets it because of the sweat that had accumulated during their training session. “Gross.”

Oliver smacks a wet kiss on her forehead. “Is that all, Speedy?”

“Ew, Ollie,” she complains as she wipes her forehead. “Yeah, that’s it.”

With that, she turns to leave, but not before turning to Diggle and saying, “You can come to Digg! With little Sara and Lyla if you want.”

“Nah, that’s okay. I think we’ll be staying in tomorrow.”

“Alright. See ya!”

And then she’s gone just as fast as she came in.

“I see why you call her ‘Speedy.’”

Oliver just smiles and shakes his head.

* * *

By afternoon the next day, Felicity has gone from dark haired to blonde and has stuffed the trunk of her Mini (which Merlyn had leased for her) with her new wardrobe. She even changed out of her dark skinny jeans and into one of her new dresses.

But holy frack, as excited as she is to have a whole new look, shopping is tiring. She’d bought some more things for her new home to personalize it, and she was hoping to set everything up once she got home, but she just didn’t have the energy.

It is time for coffee.

During her time in the hell hole, she’d only had decent coffee. They never made coffee especially great. It tasted like regular old break room coffee.

So of course, Felicity had to search up the best coffee place near her. 

Too busy making sure her phone was giving her the right directions walk to the shop, since she’d decided to just drop off her stuff and her car at her townhouse, take out her contacts and replace them with her glasses, and walk, Felicity bumps straight into a stranger holding two cups of coffee, nearly spilling them.

“Oh my god, I am so sorry! I wasn’t watching where I was going because I just moved here so I was just making sure Google Maps was giving me the right directions and I didn’t notice you were right in front of me with two spillable objects and-”

“Hey, hey, hey! Take a breather. It’s okay,” the stranger, a short teenaged girl wearing what look to be very cute, very expensive clothing, reassures her. “ No harm done! Nothing spilled! It’s okay.”

“I’m so sorry!”

“Like I said it’s no big deal,” the girl says with a slightly amused smile. “Where are you headed?”

“Oh um…” Felicity checks her phone again to make sure she’s got the right name. “I’m looking for Star City Jitters?”

“I just came from Jitters!” she exclaims, gesturing to her coffee cups. “It’s just around the corner. You’re coming at a good time, there’s barely a line in there.”

“Thanks. I’ll just head over there now before I try to run over you again.” 

Felicity makes to go around her but the girl speaks up again. “Hey, what’s your name?”

“Oh! Uh… Felicity. Smoak.” 

“Well, Felicity Smoak, since you just moved here, welcome to Star City.”

Felicity gives her a nervous smile. “Thanks.”

“I’m Thea by the way.” Thea? Why does that sound familiar? “My older brother Oliver is waiting in the car for me so hope to see you around.”

With that, Thea walks around her and goes straight to an expensive looking car parked next to the sidewalk. Felicity sees the man in the front seat lean over and open the door for her. She can’t really see him too much since he sports a pair of sunglasses on his face and the car’s windshield is slightly tinted. He looks a little grumpy, but from what she can see through the window, he’s a pretty good-looking man. Thea waves at Felicity once the coffees are out of her hands, and Felicity waves back, a little bewildered by the younger, energetic girl.

The man pulls out of his spot and drives away.

Hold on.

Expensive car? Expensive clothing? Older brother named Oliver…

Frack. She’d just met Thea Queen.

* * *

“Who was that you were talking to?” Oliver asks as his sister drops her hand from waving at a young woman he has never met before.

“Oh, this girl Felicity Smoak who bumped right into me.”

“She what???”

“Relax, Ollie,” Thea rolls her eyes at his overprotectiveness. “She was perfectly nice! She wasn’t sure she was heading the right direction to Jitters, but I helped her out.”

“That’s good of you.”

“Hey! I can be nice.”

“Really?” Oliver decides he wants to tease his baby sister some more. “You were a bit hellish when you turned thirteen.”

“Shut up! Anyway, she was really nice. I hope I’ll run into her again.”

“Hopefully not literally.”

“She was just confused,” Thea defends. “Like I was saying, I hope to see her again. Maybe I’ll make a new friend.”

Oliver just nods.

“Maybe I found your new girlfriend…” 

He wants to wipe that sly grin off her face, but he just clenches his jaw and simply says, “Speedy, I don’t have time for that right now.”

“I know, I know.” Thea sighs, looking more tired than a girl of her age should be. “I just want our family to be happy. I want you to be happy.”

“... I know, Thea.”

“Despite the fact that our family is a part of the  _ Brother _ hood of Assassins, it’s a lonely life. Look at what it did to Mom and Dad…”

Oliver just sighs and keeps driving.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now Felicity has met Thea! I'm so ready to write their friendship. They really need to gang up on Oliver more in the show. Drop by the comment section and let me know what you thought! Or drop by my Tumblr, [nerdyandturdy](www.nerdyandturdy.tumblr.com). Thanks for reading!


	5. The Interview

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for Felicity's interview at QC, and she's in a bit of a panic. Meanwhile, Oliver just isn't sure about this girl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to chapter 5! I hope you guys enjoy it! I'll admit I had a hard time writing this, so hopefully you guys will think I did okay.

Felicity is ready to break out some wine, and the sun hadn’t even started setting yet. (She does love the idea that she can have a glass of wine at the end of the day, as opposed to staring at the ceiling in her quiet bedroom hoping she and her mother would make it out alive.)

She’d just pulled up to her driveway after a briefing at Merlyn Global. Merlyn and Slade’s crew had wanted to make sure that Felicity has her story straight and she knows when to update them on any progress she makes while undercover. She laments the fact that she had to see Isabel and Merlyn again so soon. Now that she has the opportunity to avoid them as much as possible, Felicity forgot that they had set up a meeting a couple days from when her interview at Queen Consolidated is scheduled.

She is completely settled in after a little more than two weeks, starting to feel comfortable in Star City, her new home. Though sometimes, when she comes home from exploring the city, or when she finishes coding or building some of the tech that will help her on her mission (both her assigned one and secret one), Felicity takes in the quietness in the house. The only thing she misses about living at the Order’s primary base is the fact that she had some people to talk to. Be it her guards, her occasional teammates, or even Isabel. At least she’d be amused by the fact that Isabel seemed to hate her so much.

In short, Felicity is lonely. And as much as she would like to make friends in Star City, she doesn’t want another person she cares about to catch the eyes of the Order.

She thinks back to Thea Queen, whom she keeps running into (not literally, thank god) whenever she needs a good caffeine fix. Felicity thinks them to be acquaintances who go to the same coffee shop, but she doesn’t quite know if she wants them to become friends. Given Thea’s relation to the Brotherhood and Felicity’s relation to the Templars, she isn’t sure that befriending the youngest Queen is a smart or safe idea.

Although, if she manages to get the Head of IT job at QC and hopefully gains enough of the Brotherhood’s trust to work against the Order with her, they’ll be able to become friends. Thea Queen is a nice and charming girl. And maybe the Order will see their friendship as her way to get even closer to the Assassins.

Felicity just wishes she doesn’t have to be caught up in a huge web of lies.

Speaking of lies, Felicity needs to make sure that she’s got her facts right. On top of making sure she can demonstrate her IT and cyber security prowess, she must also make sure they don’t find anything suspicious about her past.

The beginning of her falsified background is easy enough because it is based on truth. She began attending MIT for degrees in Computer Science and Cyber Security at an early age and graduated at the age of 19. What they won’t know is that the Templars had already gotten hold of her mother and threatened Felicity into training.

Felicity vaguely remembers being approached by Robert Queen and another man (Walter something?) during her last year at college. They wanted to recruit her for Queen Consolidated but a few menacing looks from the Templars watching over her freaked her out. She’d taken out the business card they’d given her, called them, and said that she’d decided to start her career with a different company.

It was a lie, of course, so at least now, Felicity can tell them the name of the company, Tempest, a Gotham-based subsidiary of Merlyn Global. That will explain where she’s been and why she moved to Star City. She’s been to Gotham before. It’s a dark and musty city that Felicity is almost glad she was locked up under MG instead of living in that crime riddled city.

Merlyn had also told her to show herself off as family oriented. So, of course, she’ll be saying that another reason she decided to move to Star City is to be closer to her mother.

Which is true. Kind of. Now that she’ll be able to physically interact with Assassins, she is one step closer to getting her mom out of the Order’s clutches.

In a perfect world, with no Templars and no Assassins, Felicity wants to believe that this could’ve been her life. She would try out different IT jobs after graduating from MIT. Probably some on the East Coast to avoid her mother, before realizing that her mother isn’t actually that bad. She just cares a lot in her own special way. She’d then find somewhere closer, maybe even taking up that offer from Robert Queen, if the offer was still open. She’d meet a guy someday. Get married. Have kids and still have a successful career (Like hell she’d become a stay at home mom).

… Yeah right. Like she’d ever get any of that. Even if she does manage to rid herself of the Templars.

* * *

Oliver wants to bang his head against the table. He’s bored and antsy and he has too much energy to be sitting around and reading about people that can do the same things, over and over again. HR had asked Oliver and Walter to look over the applications for the IT position, since Andrew Rowan, the now former Head of IT, is no longer in the picture. He and Walter also need to run background checks on each candidate they deem worthy of the position. At least then, he can pass over that work to Diggle.

But still, they’ve been looking over these applications for almost an hour, reviewing the qualifications of each candidate thoroughly, making sure they specialize in information technology and cyber security. 

While they have recognized a few potential interviewees, neither he nor Walter is impressed by any of the candidates they’ve reviewed so far. However, they’ll need their options, so anyone who has slight potential in the leading IT role, they’ve chosen for an interview. 

“We could look into promoting one of our IT employees,” Oliver suggests as they set aside another application. “It would be a lot easier.”

“I know this must be boring for you, Oliver,” Walter replies. “This task is a lot calmer than what you’re used to.”

Oliver doesn’t want to disrespect Walter since he has been doing this for years now. But still, Oliver nods.

“To be honest, Walter, if I could, I’d get the hell out of here.”

Walter chuckles. “To be quite honest myself, sometimes I feel the same.”

Oliver feels the right corner of his lips tick up.

“But the fact of the matter is people are relying on us to get this job done.The Brotherhood is relying on us.”

Oliver’s shoulders tense a little in guilt. “... I know.”

“The Order has the advantage of superior IT expertise than we do, so this is our chance to get the upper hand,” the older man lectures. “And the Council has asked us to kickstart this project of improving our own technological prowess. For heaven’s sake, we’ve barely improved on our signature weaponry.”

He wants to object to that. The hidden blades are primitive but precise. They get the job done easily and do more than stab someone in the neck. “The blades have their features.”

“But do they hack easily into a database?” Oliver shakes his head. “Can they prevent cyber attacks?” ...No again. “Which is exactly why we must put our best effort into finding someone who can help us.”

Oliver feels like a kid again, being lectured by an adult as if he’d had his dessert before dinner. “I’m sorry if my inexperience is causing you trouble, Walter.”

“Nonsense, Oliver,” Walter reassures. “Like I said, I’d feel the same in your position. Now why don’t we get on with the next applications, shall we? There are only a few more left.”

It’s then that Oliver realizes their pile of applications has gone down to three. He almost sighs in relief, but he doesn’t want to give Walter anymore chances to lecture him on his inability to sit still.

He takes the next application and reads the name. “Felicity Smoak.” 

Huh. Why does that name sound familiar?

“Hmm… Felicity Smoak. I’ve heard this name before,” Walter acknowledges.

Do they both know her from somewhere? “You have?”

A light bulb seems to turn on for the older man. “Ah, yes! She is a young woman your father and I tried to recruit a few years ago.”

This doesn’t click for Oliver. He’d most likely been off training ever since he’d screwed up with the Lance sisters and Slade had decided to beat him into his senses.

Walter continues, “She was a very remarkable girl for her age, and is probably still now, given her resumé here. When we had approached her, she was already graduating MIT at age 19.”

19? Oliver had dropped out of his second college when he was 19. “Oh, really?”

“Quite charming too, even though she didn’t look it.” That statement makes Oliver wonder what exactly this girl looks like. “Unfortunately for us, she’d already taken a job with someone else.” Walter continues to read her resumé. “Ah! By our very own Malcolm Merlyn, it seems like. He owns this company.”

“But now she wants to work with us?” Oliver is a little suspicious of this Felicity now. Malcolm Merlyn is the father of his childhood best friend Tommy. Malcolm never approved of Tommy’s friendship with Oliver, and has, for more than a decade of their friendship, treated Tommy like scum. This led to Oliver bringing Tommy into the life of an Assassin. While Tommy himself is not an Assassin, not able to handle what comes with being one, he has always supported Oliver and Oliver has always supported him, which is much more than Malcolm could ever provide for Tommy. His experience with Malcolm has made Oliver very unlikely to trust him or anyone associated with him. “Can we really trust her?”

“I’ve had the pleasure of meeting this girl,” Walter emphasizes. “I know you have your problems with Malcolm and his parenting skills, but if she is still anything like the girl I met with back then, I’m sure we’ll be able to trust her.”

Oliver keeps eye contact with Walter a moment longer, then places Felicity’s application in the approved pile.

* * *

Felicity is nervous for this interview.

Very nervous.

She is so nervous, she’s just a little clammy. Just a little. 

She glances at the taxi driver’s rear view mirror (yes, she was so nervous earlier that she called a cab to take her to QC) and spots the car that’s been following them two blocks from her house. Merlyn had told her that to make sure she arrives at her interview, and to make sure they could pull her out should something go wrong, he would be assigning a few Templar lackeys to follow her. It just makes her even more nervous than she already is.

She struggles a little to prevent herself from wiping her hands on her skirt. Felicity is proud of her interview outfit, which she’d spent the night before choosing. She’d matched a white printed blouse with a professional black pencil skirt, all put together with a pale pink blazer.

However, as of right now, no matter how much Felicity loves her new style, the blazer feels constricting and she hasn’t worn a pencil skirt in ages. She wishes she could go back home and put on some sweatpants. A little Netflix would definitely help her relax. Still, she has a job to get done.

Felicity is so wrapped up in her thoughts that she doesn’t realize that the taxi has pulled up to the front of Queen Consolidated, her driver calling her, “Miss? We’ve arrived.”

“Oh, yes, sorry. I’m going in for a job interview at QC for their IT Department and I haven’t done one of these in a while, so wow, am I nervous!”

He just laughs awkwardly.

…

“Oh, yes! Sorry! You probably have more people to drive. Let me just一” She pulls out the money from her bag and hands it to him with shaking hands. “Here you go. Sorry, I spaced out.”

He looks to be struggling on how to deal with her. Oh, boy. Today is not going so well. It seems that years away from society has really damaged her social skills. “Uh, good luck with your interview, miss.”

Felicity nearly scrambles out of the cab. “Thank you!”

Once she closes the door, the driver takes off. As there are people walking around, some who may be potential coworkers, Felicity tries not to cringe at herself. Can she really pull this off if she can barely handle herself with another human being for a few minutes?

Shaking it off, she walks through QC’s glass doors, where she is met with the security desk.

“Hello, miss. How may I help you?”

“I’m here for an interview for the Head IT position.”

The nice man, Joe, has her sign paperwork and gives her a temporary badge once she’s done. “Your interview will be held in one of the executive conference rooms, so just wait here while one of our higher ups comes down here to escort you, Miss Smoak.”

“Thank you, Joe.”

_ Nice! _ Felicity mentally congratulates herself from preventing another awkward encounter.

Just a couple minutes later, a tall, very big (But not  _ fat _ big.  _ Muscle-y _ big) man walks up to Joe. “Hey, Joe! I’m here for a Miss Felicity Smoak.”

She hadn’t waited too long, so she’d chosen to just stand by the security counter. She makes eye contact with the man, and, raising her hand a little, answers, “That would be me.”

He takes a quick look at her before offering his hand and greeting her, “Hello, Miss Smoak. I’m John Diggle. I’ll be escorting you for your interview.”

Felicity shakes his hand. “Please, ‘Miss Smoak’ is my mother. Call me Felicity.”

“Well then, Felicity. Shall we?” He gestures to one of the elevators away from the elevators most of the employees are using. 

The two of them begin walking toward the elevator, but not before Joe says, “Good luck, Miss Smoak!”

She shoots him a quick smile while walking away, suddenly too nervous to speak.

Mr. Diggle must notice how nervous she is, given the way she’d fidgeting. “Nervous?”

Felicity whips her head towards him and sheepishly grins. “A bit.” He raises an eyebrow. “Okay, a lot. I have a lot riding on this interview.”

“Oh?”

Frack. She hopes her mouth doesn’t run off from her and tells this man too much. “Well, I’m currently unemployed in a new city. Well, not so much new. I’ve been here for about three weeks. But I barely know anyone here. Well, in fact, no one actually. Except for my neighbor Mrs. Fernandes who swears on her life that I keep stealing her cat. But no way would I ever steal away that furry little monster. The thing tried to gouge out my eyes when I一” Felicity nearly smacks her forehead when she realizes she’s babbling. She does, however, close her eyes and wince. “I’m sorry, Mr. Diggle. I babble when I’m nervous.”

She hears a deep chuckle. Opening her eyes, Felicity sees that Mr. Diggle is sporting an amused grin. “Don’t worry about it, Felicity. And call me Diggle.”

Felicity gives him another sheepish grin. “Okay, Mi一Diggle.”

Then, the elevator dings and they both step off the elevator. Diggle leads her to what seems to be a waiting area since there are some chairs lined against some of the walls. 

“Since you’re a little early, for your interview, you’ll have to wait in here until they’re ready for you,” Diggle explains.

“It’s not a problem,” she assures. “I knew I was early. My nerves made me do it.”

He chuckles again. “You’ll be fine. Go ahead and have a seat.”

With that, he goes to stand by the door while she goes to sit in one of the chairs. A few seats away from her is a man, also waiting for his interview. She’d been expecting a lot more people to be coming in for this job. Had they already interviewed that many people? Or had they picked so few to interview? 

Diggle must hear the voices on the other side of the door because he grabs the handle and opens it. A woman walks out saying, “Thank you for your time.” Then she asks Diggle for the way to the elevators. He leads her to them.

If that man in the waiting area with her is the only one there with her, that must mean after him, she’d be next. It made panic rise to her chest once more, and she begins to fidget in her seat.

The door opens again, but from this angle, Felicity can’t see who it is. A voice calls out, “Mr. Gregg? We’re ready for you.”

The man stands up from his chair, straightens out his suit, and picks up his briefcase before heading to the door.

Then, Felicity is alone for her panic to continue to build. Her lungs begin to constrict. She can’t do this. She  _ can’t. _ It’s not just the interview that’s freaking her out. It’s her whole situation. She can’t possibly pull any of this off. She can’t infiltrate the Brotherhood for the Templars. Somehow, they’re going to find out that the Templars sent her. Then they’re going to do what Assassins do best.  _ Assassinate _ . Even if she does manage to gain the Brotherhood’s trust, there’s no guarantee the Templars won’t find out. They’ll definitely figure it out, especially with Slade’s team still lurking about somewhere in the city. And when the Order does find out, once again, she’s dead. If the Order is able to off one of the Brotherhood’s leaders, then they can definitely off her. 

This is one of those times when Felicity really hates her father. Not only did he leave their family indebted to the Order, but he abandoned them when she was just a little girl. This resulted in a whole butt load of insecurities for Felicity. She’d felt severely inadequate. Not good enough. And that carries on today.

She’ll never be able to pull this off.

Felicity is about ready to hightail it out of there when a hand touches her shoulder. She looks up and sees it’s Diggle. She hadn’t even realized he’d come back into the waiting area.

“You okay?”

She shakes her head. “Honestly? No. I’ll admit I was having a bit of a panic attack right now.”

Felicity has no idea why she’s opening up to someone she just met. This John Diggle seems to carry on such a charismatic and kind persona that she can’t help it. 

“Hey,” he bends down a little to make sure she hold eye contact with him. “You’ll do just fine. You managed to get me to like you.”

Letting out a small scoff, she replies, “Well yeah. Because I made you laugh with all my nervous babbling. Which turned into a huge panic attack.”

Who wouldn’t have a panic attack if a job interview could literally lead to your death?

Her lungs start to constrict again. She should really stop thinking about her impending doom.

“Felicity,” she hears Diggle call out. “Breathe with me, okay?”

She tries to reply, but her voice is caught in her throat.

“Breathe… That’s it.” His calm voice soothes her, so after a few moments, she is no longer panicking like she was.

When she starts to breathe normally, Felicity thanks him, giving him a meaningful look. “Thank you, John Diggle.”

He smiles at her and squeezes her shoulder. “Anytime, Felicity Smoak.”

Her panic attack must have lasted some time, because the man who had gone in for his interview had already left, and there was a man at the open door saying, “Miss Smoak? Mister Diggle?” in a British accent. Felicity recognizes the man as one of the two men who tried to hire when she was finishing up at MIT.

“Yes, Mr. Steele,” Diggle answers. “I was just about to bring her inside the room.”

Diggle looks at her, silently asking if she is ready. 

Might as well get it over with, Felicity thinks. Honestly, if she waits any longer, she’ll probably have another panic attack, and that will help no one. 

They walk over to the conference room’s open door.

You got this, Smoak.

“Good morning, Miss Smoak,” says the man with the British accent. “My name is Walter Steele, CFO of QC.” 

They shake hands. “Yes, good morning. I don’t know if you remember me, but we actually met a few years ago, back when I was still in school.”

“Oh, yes I do remember you, Miss Smoak,” he confirms. “Robert, our late CEO, and I were quite disappointed when you’d told us you’d taken up a job already.”

Felicity resists the urge to wince. “My condolences, Mr. Steele. This must be a tough time for the company.”

Sadness invades his eyes and she immediately regrets trying to console the man. Not only does he fill up with grief for a moment, but she fills up with guilt. She does have a part in Robert Queen’s death after all.

Mr. Steele nods and states with a sigh, “Yes it is. But while he may be gone, his company, his family, and his friends are not, so we must keep going.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I am glad that you have come back to consider working for us again, though.”

“Well, back then, I guess Queen Consolidated was not really what I was looking for.”

Lies. She hadn’t known it back then, but QC was, and still is, exactly what she’d been looking for. Within the company is the very organization that will, hopefully, save her and her mother from the Order.

It’s this thought that gives Felicity the confidence boost she’d been needing since she left the house this morning. The confidence boost she’d been needing since Merlyn and Darhk assigned her this undercover mission, really.

“Well, like I said, given why we’re meeting here today, I’m glad that QC is what you’re looking for now.”

She offers him a grateful smile. Their shared (though unknown to him) moment of grief has passed.

“Now, let me introduce you to the others who will be helping me interview you today.” He nods to Diggle, who nods at him, gives her one last reassuring smile, and closes the door behind them. “I’m sure you’ll have no problem impressing them as you have with me already.”

Felicity blushes. If she didn’t know any better, Felicity would have thought that Mr. Steele had already made up his mind about her. “I’m not sure how I’ve already impressed you, Mr. Steele. We haven’t even started the interview.”

“Your application speaks wonders already. Meeting you again has already proven you’d be a great addition to the company,” he says before walking further into the conference room. A projection screen, preset to project the QC logo, lies against the far wall. In the middle of the room sits a long conference table line with several office chairs. Three other people walk up to her and Mr. Steele. “Felicity, this is Mrs. Karen Wright, from our HR department.”

The woman he introduces is a tall brunette, maybe ten years her senior. They exchange pleasant smiles and a handshake.

Mr. Steele continues, gesturing to a tall African American man, “This is Mr. Curtis Holt. If all goes well today, you two will be working together in the IT Department.”

Felicity almost has to tilt her head back, given how tall he is. He’s a handsome young man, she has to admit. His well-groomed fro and hipster vibe style suit well with her.  He looks pretty young if he’ll be helping her head up the IT Department if she is hired. She offers her hand, “Good morning, Mr. Holt.”

He takes her hand and a warm smile appears on his face. “Please, call me Curtis.”

Nodding, she says, “Will do, Curtis. You can go ahead and call me, Felicity as well.”

Then, Mr. Steele gestures to the last person in the room. “Felicity, this is our CEO, Oliver Queen.”

Felicity refrains herself from drooling. She’d looked up Oliver Queen beforehand. She’d seen his pictures, during his playboy years and during his years as the “refined businessman,” as the tabloids have been calling him. Those pictures do not do him justice. Even when she’d seen him a few weeks ago with his sister, she couldn’t really see him. But here he is in the flesh, and Felicity can’t help but notice his broad shoulders, his chiseled, scruff covered jaw, and his blue eyes. Oh, those eyes would probably make her faint if she didn’t have any dignity. Or if she wasn’t about to have a job interview with him. 

He stares curiously at her for a moment before saying, “It’s nice to meet you, Miss Smoak.”

Oh god, his voice.

Reaching out her hand and hoping her voice hasn’t reached a higher octave, she replies, “It’s nice to meet you too, Mr. Queen.”

* * *

He hadn’t been expecting her at all. He’d expected her to be young. Walter had told him he’d tried to hire her a few years ago during her senior years at college when she was just nineteen. What he hadn’t expected was her beauty.

Oliver usually isn’t one for blondes, save for Sara Lance. But that is a rabbit hole he won’t be going down again. Not if he wants to prevent Captain Lance from threatening to kill him for the rest of his life. But Felicity’s blonde hair, neatly pulled into a ponytail, has an unexpected hold on him.

It takes him a few minutes into the interview to recognize her as the blonde woman Thea had run into a few weeks ago near Jitters. He really hopes that if they do end up hiring this Felicity Smoak, his little sister won’t be pushing them together like she had back then, very briefly. Like he’d told Thea, he has no time for any sort of love life. He has no reason to trust her, let alone get to know her. Plus, there has to be some rule against work relationships. There is too much going on with the Brotherhood losing men to the Order and QC’s stock falling because the investors aren’t trusting Oliver with the company easily. What he wouldn’t give to go out there and beat out his frustrations on unsuspecting Templars.

When the interview turns to Felicity’s work with Tempest, Oliver manages to ignore his attraction to her. Despite Walter’s assurances that the girl couldn’t possibly be untrustworthy, Oliver still doubts her. While he has no proof, Oliver has always suspected that Malcolm worked for the Templars in some way. His wife had been killed when she came into the crosshairs of a brutal Templar-Assassin battle out in the Glades, and evidence shows that she’d been the victim of as Assassin’s blade when a Templar had pulled her from the sidewalk and used her as a shield. He figured that is why Malcolm never approved of his son’s friendship with Oliver. Malcolm had been best friends with his father, and even though his father never spoke about his friendship with the older Merlyn, Oliver had deduced that Malcolm had known about the Queens’ business with the Assassins. If this girl worked under Malcolm, she had to be bad news somehow.

Still, Oliver keeps getting distracted by her pink painted lips.

There’s just something about her sweet, excited smile. The way her eyes light up when she talks about computers and her abilities to manipulate them. Although, it’s not like Oliver knows what she’s saying. He had no idea what these IT specialists have been talking about for the past couple hours. Besides that fact, Oliver is slightly enamored by her.

And he can’t have that. Especially when he can’t ignore the feeling that there’s something more to her and Malcolm than she’s letting on.

Before Oliver realizes it, everyone has gotten up to bid Felicity farewell. He stands quickly to make sure no one notices he was deep in thought, but he catches Walter’s curious glance.

“I look forward to hearing from you,” Felicity says.

It’s Walter who answers with a smile. “I’m sure you’ll be receiving a phone call soon enough, Miss Smoak.”

Oliver really wishes she wouldn’t beam like that.

Making sure to shake everyone’s hand, the blonde makes her way out, Digg tagging along with her, seeming to strike an easy conversation while he escorts her to the elevator. Oliver’s eyebrows furrow. That doesn’t seem like him. Digg is usually never that easy going with strangers. Especially in the workplace.

“Well, I daresay we’ve found our new Head of IT,” Walter announces once the door closes.

Everyone nods, though Oliver hesitates. They still need to check with the rest of the Council. But Walter seems to have made up his mind already.

“Karen, I trust you’ll get all the paperwork ready for Miss Smoak as soon as possible? We’d like to have her start working as soon as she can.”

“Yes, Mr. Steele. I should have them ready by tomorrow.”

“And Mr. Holt, you’ll be able to teach her some of the ropes?”

As Curtis picks up his things from the table, he nods and responds, “Yes, sir! She’ll be running IT in no time.”

The two exit the conference room, leaving Walter and Oliver alone.

Oliver is the first to speak. “Shouldn’t we talk to the Council first, before hiring her, Walter?”

“We will be meeting with them later, yes. However, I have a feeling we will all come to the same conclusion about Miss Smoak.” Walter gestures to the door. “Even Mr. Diggle has taken a liking to her, and I assume he’s already run background checks on her.”

He’s right. Digg had called him last night to assure him that the background checks on all the candidates had come out clear.

Even so, although Oliver can’t ignore the slight attraction he has for this girl, he can’t shake the feelings that there is something that Diggle’s background check won’t tell them.

And he’s going to find out what that is.

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There it is! Oliver and Felicity finally met! And so did Felicity and Diggle! Next chapter, which I'm still finishing up (my bad), we'll get to see Felicity thoughts on Oliver. So come back next Tuesday! I'm a little behind on writing now that school has started. But I'm still a little ahead. I'll always make sure I have at least one chapter written ahead on Tuesdays. Be sure to follow my Tumblr, [nerdyandturdy](http://nerdyandturdy.tumblr.com/) for news on updates and sneak peeks if I feel the need to share some!


	6. The Laptop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity gets the job, so Oliver finally has a job for her, even though he still has an odd feeling about her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is late! I would like to say though, it is still Tuesday where I live. lol. But here's the new chapter! It's a little longer than the last chapter, and it was also pretty difficult to write, but it's here! Enjoy!

Oliver isn’t sure about this Felicity Smoak.

While upfront, there seems to be nothing wrong with her, ever since the job interview, Oliver has been feeling that there is something up with this girl. Ignoring the strange attraction he feels towards her, he knows there’s something more to Felicity Smoak. 

He glances over to Walter in the car as they head back to the mansion. He can’t believe that Walter is being so quick to trust this girl. It’s been years since Walter met the girl, and that was only one time. In reality, they’ve really only just met the girl. Beyond Diggle’s initial background check on her, which he’ll be divulging to the Council when they arrive at the mansion, they only have Walter’s first meeting with her five years ago and her job interview with them just a few hours ago. The Council has to have thought of this before actually considering her.

Oliver doesn’t want to have to deal with another traitor in the Brotherhood, especially if he will have to work in close quarters with her. He doesn’t want another  _ Slade. _ Oliver still feels the burning on his shoulder after Slade’s first attack on the Brotherhood after he deserted them.

When Digg pulls up to the front of the mansion, Oliver feels antsy again. This time, he’s itching to make sure the Council knows what they’re doing. Even though they all have years of experience on him, Oliver has this gut feeling that he is right about Felicity Smoak.

Digg parks the car and all three of the men walk up the steps to the mansion and start heading toward to the study, where the Council waits for them.

When Oliver walks through the door, he gets a feeling of deja vu as his eyes land on his mother, sitting at his late father’s desk just as she had a few weeks ago. Much to his relief, however, she looks much better. While she seems still thinner than she had been before his father’s death, she seems to be eating more than she had been. This time around, her cheeks aren’t as sunken, and her skin looks less pale.

Before greeting anyone else, Oliver walks over to her, bends down to her level, and kisses her lightly on the cheek. “Hey, Mom.”

Oliver is glad to see a small smile sprout on her face. “Hi, honey.”

The moment passes quickly, though. Once Digg closes the door to the study, Oliver sees every Council member turn on their business faces.

“Good evening, Mr. Steele,” Amanda greets. She nods toward Oliver and to Digg, who comes to stand near him. “Mr. Queen. Mr. Diggle.”

“Good evening, Amanda,” Walter returns. “Shall we start this meeting?”

“Yes, please,” Lance interjects. “My two girls﹘” he quickly glares at Oliver as though Oliver is about to jolt towards the door and have his ways with the Lance sisters “﹘are back home from together and I want to treat them to dinner.”

Walter waves a hand casually. “No need to worry, Quentin. I’m sure this meeting will be quick enough.”

“So, you’ve found a new Head of IT, Walter?” his mother inquires.

Oliver wants to say no immediately, but Walter answers, “Yes we have. Do you remember when Robert and I flew out to Massachusetts a few years ago?”

She thinks for a moment. “Yes. I believe it was to look into hiring some genius from MIT. Why?”

“Well, the young woman we’d been looking to hire back then is our number one choice for the position.”

“And what’s this woman’s name, Mr. Steele?” Amanda asks.

“Felicity Smoak.”

The Council seems to contemplate the name for a second, but then Lance interrupts the silence. “Diggle. You got the details on this girl?”

“Yes, sir,” the man in question answers. Oliver hopes that whatever Digg found confirms his suspicions about her. “She’s got nothing on her.”

Oliver furrows his eyebrows at Diggle. He can’t be serious. Nothing?

Diggle notices Oliver’s face, so he scoffs at him. “Don’t look at me like that, man. I checked each of the interviewees and did a thorough investigation after your interview with her. She’s clean.”

“Tell us about her, Mr. Diggle,” Amanda orders.

“She was born to a Miss Donna Smoak in Las Vegas. Her mother has been working as a cocktail waitress for twenty plus years”

Lance breathes out a small, somewhat condescending laugh. “A Vegas girl, huh?”

“I would save the laughs for later, Quentin,” Walter suggests. “Despite where she comes from, Miss Smoak is a remarkable and accomplished woman.”

Lance still looks doubtful. Oliver hopes that he’ll stay that way.

Diggle continues reciting his research. “She graduated from high school at age fifteen before heading off to MIT.”

Moira raises both eyebrows. “MIT? At that age?”

It’s Walter that confirms it. “It’s why Robert and I had our sights on her back then. Continue, Mr. Diggle.”

“Miss Smoak graduated from MIT at age 19 in 2009 with a master’s in Cyber Security and Computer Science.”

Lance whistles. “Damn.”

“That same year she won 2nd place at the National Information Technology competition,” Walter adds. “Correct, Mr. Diggle?”

Digg nods. “Yes, sir. After MIT, she took a job with Malcolm Merlyn’s subsidiary company Tempest, based in Gotham. Not much on her after that.”

Oliver raises an eyebrow. “Nothing?”

“Nope. She’s clean.”

Maybe too clean.

“That should make her a perfect IT specialist for the Brotherhood, then,” his mother says.

Oliver wants to shake some sense into her. There has to be more info on this girl. There’s no proof that she’ll be good for the Brotherhood. They have no solid information that they can trust her. 

“I have to say. This Felicity Smoak is impressive,” Lance compliments. “She definitely has the qualifications.”

“And you found no connections with the Templars, Mr. Diggle?” Amanda asks.

“None,” he answers. 

“Well, what about the company she worked for. Tempest?”

Yes! This is where Oliver and Amanda Waller share common ground. They both have their suspicions of Malcolm Merlyn, while the rest of the Council usually deny them, because of a dismissal of the Merlyn name or because of personal ties with him. The Queens and Walter have always been friends to the Merlyns. It seems that Oliver is the only one of the Queens to suspect that Malcolm has more to him than meets the eye.

So it’s much to Oliver’s disappointment when Diggle replies, “While the company may have been owned by Malcolm Merlyn, a suspected Templar, I found no connection to both Miss Smoak’s work and the company as a whole to any Templar operations.”

Damn it.

“I believe that we have a winner,” Walter says.

Oliver looks around the study and watches the Councilmembers’ faces. He clenches his jaw when he sees all of them nodding their heads. They all head toward his mother, signaling Oliver and Diggle to walk towards the opposite side of the room. Even though he gets to be a part of a few Council meetings, he himself is not a part of the Council. When it’s time to make a decision that will have an effect on the Brotherhood, the decisions come down to the Council. They all start speaking in hushed tones for a few minutes, and then Amanda picks up her voice.

“So we’re all in agreement to integrate Miss Smoak into the Brotherhood?” 

Oliver can’t believe it. They’d met the girl just a few hours ago, and already the Council is ready to trust her with the Brotherhood. There is something about her that unsettles Oliver, and before they integrate her into the Brotherhood, Oliver needs to know what that is.

Almost as if she could read his mind, Amanda speaks up, “Rest assured, Mr. Queen. We won’t be accepting her right away.”

“Then what do you plan to do with her?”

The Council pauses to think for a moment. Even if Oliver didn’t have his suspicions about Felicity, how are they supposed to bring someone in who has had no experience with the Brotherhood at all? To Oliver’s knowledge, those who are a part of the Brotherhood, or are allied with the Brotherhood, have some sort of connection inside, either familial or friendly. 

“You will be feeding her some assignments to help us, Mr. Queen.”

Oliver fails to hide his annoyance. “Why me?”

“Don’t get your panties in a twist, Queen,” Lance huffs. “You want to get back into the field?”

Oliver nods.

“Then it’ll be your job to test her out as a reliable source for the Brotherhood.”

Most of the time, Oliver respects Captain Lance. He admires him even. Despite the drama he created with the Lance family all those years ago, Oliver has always looked up to Lance. Besides his father, Oliver has always thought of Lance as a great mentor, even with all the glares and hateful quips the older man throws his way. But right now, Oliver really wants to strangle him.

“You can’t possibly believe this girl is trustworthy,” Oliver challenges. “You haven’t even met her!”

“But you have, Queen,” Lance shoots back. “And so has Walter. And from what I gather from him, this Smoak girl has left quite the impression on him.”

Walter nods, though he looks concerned, as if he doesn’t want to be a part of whatever argument Oliver and Lance might start.

“So tell me,  _ Mr _ . Queen. What proof do you have that we can’t at least try to trust this girl?” Lance presses. “Besides your split second assumption that there’s something wrong with her, even though she hasn’t proven otherwise.”

Oliver presses his lips into a thin line and doesn’t say anything. Damn it.

“That’s what I thought.”

“We won’t be going into this blindly, Oliver,” Walter interjects. “We won’t be starting off with anything big. Simple things at first. Seemingly everyday jobs at first before we start testing her with a little more...suspicious things, I guess you could say. By then we’ll be able to approve of her for the Brotherhood or not.”

That’s a little better, Oliver guesses.

“...Alright.”

“Oh, so we have your approval?” Sometimes Oliver finds Lance’s sarcasm amusing. This is not one of those times. He is honestly struggling with keeping his temper in check.

“We’ll give Miss Smoak a few weeks to settle into her new job, how about that?” Walter offers.

“It couldn’t hurt to give her a shot, Oliver,” his mother says. 

He looks to all the council members and they are all giving him stern looks. Even Digg. He’s not going to get away with avoiding this girl. Or digging up dirt on her. 

Oliver contemplates for a moment. Maybe if he starts working somewhat closely with her, he’ll discover the source of his suspicions about her. He’ll just have to stow away that strange attraction he has for the blonde. It would be inappropriate anyway. And definitely wrong if she does turn out to be a Templar.

“Two weeks,” Oliver says, gesturing with two fingers. “Then we’ll have her look into a few things.”

“Then it’s settled,” Amanda announces. “We may have a new addition to the Brotherhood.”

* * *

By the time one of the training dummies arms goes flying, Oliver can already feel his fists aching, despite the wrappings around them. After the Council meeting had adjourned, he’d silently stalked back to the car outside with Digg following him. His partner had already known where he wanted to go, based on Oliver’s angry expression as they left the study. He’s just angry.

Angry at the idea of dealing with a potential threat to the Brotherhood. Angry at the Council for not believing his suspicions about said potential threat. Angry at the Templars. Angry at Slade. Angry at himself.

If he hadn’t messed up with Shado, maybe Slade wouldn’t have betrayed the Brotherhood. If he hadn’t been so caught up with Slade, maybe his father would still be alive, dealing with this Templar mess. If he hadn’t been such a screw-up, maybe things wouldn’t so be screwed up.

But here he his, letting out all his frustrations on a dummy. 

He catches the water bottle that Diggle throws his way. “What’s going on in that head of yours, man?”

Oliver looks to the ceiling and starts shaking his head. “I just don’t get it, Digg. Why am I the only one who has this strange feeling about this woman?”

Diggle feeds Oliver’s frustration by raising an eyebrow and chuckling. “You sure you just aren’t bothered by how pretty she is?”

“No!” Oliver denies while rolling his eyes. “I don’t have any attraction to her.”

“Mhm,” Diggle doubts.

“I just have this gut feeling that this Felicity is hiding something. Are you sure you didn’t see anything suspicious when you looked into her?”

“Nothing. She’d been a perfect model citizen, save for some drunken mistakes in college.”

Oliver lets out a frustrated sigh. “Okay, maybe she’s too perfect! She’s good with computers. She could probably forge documents, make her look like she’s done nothing wrong.”

His friend shakes his head disappointedly. “Oliver, you’ve got to stop this.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Not everyone is like Slade,” Diggle elaborates. “Slade Wilson is insane. He never should’ve been a part of the Brotherhood, but we didn’t realize it until it was too late. He was and still is too unstable.”

Walking over to their computer station, Diggle pulls up a window and gestures to a picture of Felicity. “This girl? Unless you get her mad enough to make her mess with your phone or something, she’s harmless.”

Oliver growls, “How do you know, Diggle?”

“Unlike you, Oliver, I had a conversation with her outside of her job interview,” he answers. “I don’t think a Templar trying to infiltrate the Brotherhood would nervously hyperventilate on the job.” 

They stare down for a few seconds before Oliver relents. “I hope you’re right, Digg.”

Oliver still has his doubts, but he trusts his partner enough to know when it’s his time to lose the argument. He definitely won’t let his suspicions go, but he can definitely play along with whatever game this girl is playing.

Hopefully, he’ll be able to catch her before any more damage to the Brotherhood can be done.

* * *

When Felicity finally closes her laptop after coding and hacking for a few hours, she orders pizza. She rattles off her order and address to the pizza place over the phone, hangs up, and sinks into her couch.

After her interview, she’d gone to Jitters for a nice cup of coffee to relax her still buzzing nerves. If anything, it just made her a little more anxious. She barely ate a lunch, choosing to only grab a muffin on her way out and heading home (Felicity’s really glad she has a place to call home. She may have grown up in Vegas, but she never felt like she belonged in that city). Then, she grabbed her laptop and spent the rest of the day coding away. She’d needed a distraction from her stress and from her anxiety, and when Felicity gets into her coding zone, the rest of the world disappears. 

For the next few hours, Felicity spends her time whipping up some extra precautions to ensure the Templars couldn’t tap into any of her computers. She doesn’t want them to happen upon any of her stolen data she plans to feed to the Assassins. She also makes sure that the Assassins won’t be able to discover her ties to the Templars, at least without her showing them. While Felicity knows she plans to aid the Assassins, they don’t. When the time comes, she’ll be the one to tell them, when she’s certain they won’t try to slice her open.

Felicity ponders about her interview.

The Templars don’t exactly know who’s an Assassin, besides the obvious members like the Queen family. However, it’s easy to tell who could be one. Like that man from security, John Diggle. He’s also publicly known as Oliver Queen’s bodyguard. They’re definitely partners after work. Mr. Steele is definitely an Assassin as well, though he doesn’t seem like the type to be out on the field. Maybe during his younger years, Mr. Steele was in his prime. Felicity assumes that he probably sits at a high seat in the Brotherhood now, most likely a leader rather than a soldier. Besides, Oliver Queen, however, the other employees she’d met are probably just that. Employees.

Even so, John Diggle and Walter Steele did not seem to be Assassins. They both seemed so nice. So welcoming. A great contrast to anyone in the Order. They’re all creeps.

Oliver Queen is a different story. Felicity doesn’t want to judge him based off of one meeting, and he definitely is a sight for sore eyes. But boy did he seem a bit stuck up. Or at least he didn’t seem to care about her at all.

At first, he seemed nice enough. He’d greeted her politely before they all sat down for her interview. But as the interview commenced, he barely said a thing. The young CEO had just sat in his chair, maybe asking a question or two, but only when prompted by Mr. Steele. He would just stare at her with a furrow between his brows before looking away when she would glance in his direction. 

You would think the CEO would participate more in an interview for one of the higher up positions at his company.

But, no. He just sat there, staring at her weirdly when he thought she wasn’t paying attention to him before looking away, not even paying attention to the others in the room actually interviewing her.

Whatever, Felicity thinks. She’d only sat down with him once. She isn’t one to judge someone right away. Maybe he was having an off day or something. He might still be dealing with his father’s death.

That thought makes Felicity’s heart pang. She wants to tell the Assassins the truth. The Templars forced her into working for them, or else both she and her mother would be killed. The Brotherhood deserves the information she has on the Templars. All their secrets. All their plans. But does she draw a line somewhere in that truth? When she herself is part of the reason why Robert Queen is no longer in the land of the living?

Either they understand that she had just been doing what she was told and didn’t know the repercussions of that, or they shun her. Banish her.  _ Kill _ her. Bottom line, if things don’t go her way, they’ll never trust her and she’ll never be free of the Templars.

Felicity’s thoughts are interrupted by her door bell ringing. 

Pizza. Yes. She’s glad no one can witness her fist pump into the air as she walks to her door.

When she opens the door, a gangly teenager stands at her door with a box with pepperoni pineapple pizza in it. She hands him the money in exchange for the pizza, making sure he keeps the change as a tip. She’s about to close the door when she gets the funny feeling that someone is watching her. 

Looking around her, she can only see the teen getting back into his delivery car and backing out, giving her a confused look when he notices she’s still at her open front door.

Felicity checks for her tail from earlier today, but she’d taken a good look at the vehicle and knows it’s not anywhere in her neighborhood.

It must be nothing. 

She’s tired and hungry anyway. She needs sustenance for her brain to function properly.

Closing the door, Felicity shakes off the feeling and gets ready for her night in with one of her best friends. Pizza.

* * *

Oliver watches as a pizza delivery guy backs out of a driveway and speeds off. The woman at the doorway stands at the door still, looking around as if she expects someone else to be there. There isn’t. So she closes the door.

He puts down his binoculars.

Nothing suspicious so far. Just a pizza guy.

Should he be feeling guilty?

The girl hasn’t done anything to even hint that she’s up to anything. Yet, here he is. Spying on her from a rooftop just tall enough to be in direct eyesight of her house. 

Oliver just has this feeling.

As he pockets his binoculars into his leathers, he hears a quiet thump and footprints heading towards him, but Oliver doesn’t need to be on guard.

“Hey, man.” It’s Diggle. “What the hell are you doing?”

Oliver hates getting reprimanded by Diggle. When he decided on this little nighttime activity, Oliver knew he’d get some words from his partner. 

“There’s something up with her. I told you.”

“But now you’re spying on her?” Even in the darkness of night, Oliver can tell that Digg’s eyebrows are high on his forehead and his eyes showcase his anger. “Oliver, this is too much. You have no physical evidence for there to be any reason to be spying on her.”

Oliver sighs. Why won’t anyone listen to him? “Digg, I follow my instincts. My instincts are telling me that there is more to this Felicity than she is letting on.”

His partner folds his arms, displaying his massive arms. He’s trying to intimidate Oliver. Like hell that would work. But then Diggle speaks. “Your instincts also told you that it was okay to go messing around with the Lance sisters. … With Shado.”

Damn it, Diggle.

“... That was a mistake.”

“A mistake that cost you your mentor and drove him crazy.”

There’s a reason Diggle is known for his wisdom in the Star City branch. He knows his shit and isn’t afraid to tell Oliver when he messes up.

Digg steps closer to him and lays a hand on Oliver’s shoulder. “Let it go, man. At least for now. Give the girl some time to prove herself as trustworthy. Listen to the Council.”

Oliver glances toward the direction of Felicity’s house again. The blinds leading into her living room are open. They are just far enough to vaguely see Felicity munching on her pizza as she enjoys some sort of TV show. 

“Come on, man. I feel like a broken record here. We had this talk earlier.”

Looking back at Diggle, Oliver smirks. “You know I don’t like to listen.”

“I know. It makes you a pain in my ass.” He gives him a pat on the shoulder and starts walking away. “Let’s head out.”

They both start running along the rooftop, and when they get to the edge, they dive.

* * *

The next morning, Felicity just finishes cleaning up after her failed breakfast attempt when her phone rings.

She fumbles about trying to dry her hands and pick up her phone before she misses the call.

“Hello?”

“Good morning, is this Miss Smoak?” Already? Holy frack.

“Yes, this is she. Is this Mr. Steele?”

“Yes. I’m calling to let you know that we would love for you to join us at QC as our Head of IT.”

Did she hear that right?

Felicity hears him chuckle. “Yes, you did, Miss Smoak.”

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to say that out loud.” Felicity silently admonishes her lack of brain-to-mouth filter. “I really for the job.”

“Of course you did! You blew away every other candidate. Though I’m really not surprised, given how excellent you were five years ago.”

Felicity really shouldn’t be shocked. Merlyn had told her she’d definitely get the job somehow (Does he have connections inside QC? She’ll have to check for that later…). She has the qualifications. She knows what she’s doing. 

Still, Felicity feels speechless.

“Miss Smoak?”

Oh, right. She’s still on the phone.

“Yes! Sorry! I just… wasn’t expecting to hear from you so soon, Mr. Steele.”

“To be honest, Miss Smoak, I wanted to go ahead and hire you on the spot, but we have a few protocols at QC for hiring people, especially heads of department.”

“It’s probably for the best. Truth be told, I had a bit of a panic attack before my interview with your yesterday. Who knows how I would’ve reacted if you hired me then if I’m pretty much speechless now.”

He chuckles again. “Well, I’m glad you’re taking this well. So will I be welcoming you as our new Head of IT?”

Her heart jumps in excitement. Her own job. Her own department. Felicity honestly can’t breathe, so Walter laughs again when she lets out a tiny breathless, “Yes.”

She can see the smile on his face, even through the phone, when he replies, “Good.”

“Good.”

It’s only then that Felicity realizes she’s smiling as well. A big smile. Teeth and all. If she keeps smiling, she knows her cheeks will probably start hurting. She can’t even remember the last time she smiled like this.

“Would you happen to be free this afternoon?” Walter asks. “You’ll need to sign a few documents and get your QC badge at HR. Then, I’d like to take you on a tour of the building, maybe introduce you to your new staff.”

Her own staff? If her mother could see her now.

“Uh, yes! Yes, I’m free. I mean, obviously, I’m free. I don’t have a job. Well I guess now I do since I’m on the phone with you and you’re asking me to take a tour of your building which I guess will kind of be my building too, so exactly when will I be working?”

Felicity really needs to work on this babbling thing. At the Order, no one ever heard her babble. Then again, Felicity felt so trapped there, it’s not like she’d ever let her mind roam free. Especially if it could get her in trouble.

“We’re hoping you can start working as soon as possible. Maybe within the next week? We’ll start your pay probably tomorrow, once the papers you sign later today get processed. Then, hopefully, once you’ve got everything set up and you’ve met up with your department.”

“Yes, I’m sure I’ll be able to get everything up and running for the department.”

“Good. What time will you be available today?”

* * *

He’s running fast. He’s climbing fast. But he’s quiet. He has to be. He’s an Assassin.

Earlier that day, the Council had gotten a tip about a small Templar operation, the first one since the failure that was the Lian Yu assignment. The Council had pity on Oliver, who’d practically been begging for any reason to get out on the streets. He hadn’t been spying on Felicity since that night Diggle caught him.

She’s been working full-time at QC for about two weeks now, and from the weekly reports from HR, from what Walter has been telling him, and from what his sister has been telling about their occasional run-ins at Jitters, Felicity Smoak is a remarkable woman. Oliver hates being wrong. Then again, he hasn’t exactly been proven wrong. Not yet, anyway.

Hopefully, soon, he’ll be able to catch her before she does anything to hurt the Brotherhood, to hurt his family. 

Oliver doesn’t know what he’ll do with her, but he knows it will probably be similar to what he’s about to do to this Deadshot character.

Deadshot. AKA Floyd Lawton. An assassin for hire. Not a part of the Brotherhood. It’s criminals like him who give the Brotherhood a bad name. Well, if the Brotherhood were actually known to the public world.

Based on the Brotherhood’s intel, the Templars have hired him to take out the bidders for Unidac Industries, the technology company up for sale. QC is one of the bidders. No way in hell is Deadshot going to keep taking out targets for the Templars. The bastards can’t even get their own hands dirty to get what they want.

The intel leads Oliver to an old, rundown hotel. It has dingy red walls, cracks running up and down and dust flying everywhere. The doors aren’t doing much better.

Quietly, Oliver sneaks into the building, treading on light feet, his bow ready in his hand and his quiver fully stocked at his back, Oliver’s signature choice of weaponry. Sure, they are primitive weapons, but during training, Oliver had taken a liking to the weapons of the old Masters.

Oliver stops when he gets to room number 52.

It’s time to get to work.

Lawton will never know what’s coming to him.

Oliver lifts his leg and kicks down the down, splinters flying everywhere. He spots Deadshot at the desk, but the hitman seems to have realized someone was coming for him, by the way he dodges Oliver’s arrow.

When Deadshot’s head pick back up from its cover, his arm is raised to shoot rounds from his wrist turret.

Quickly, Oliver moves out of the way, taking cover just outside of the room’s doorway, narrowly avoiding the bullets. As Deadshot reloads, Oliver quickly shoots another arrow at his opponent, but just misses and hits a lamp. He draws another arrow, but Deadshot manages to shield himself by picking up the bed he;d been using as cover.

Lawton shoots another round, forcing Oliver back into the hallway. When he turns back, Deadshot has already escaped through the open window.

Damn it.

Surveying the room, Oliver searches for anything the hitman left behind. On the desk he had occupied sits a laptop. Filled with bullets. Shit.

Looks like it’s time for Oliver to starting testing Felicity Smoak’s worth.

* * *

Waiting for the elevator to stop at the IT Department’s floor, Oliver makes sure the laptop is securely snuggled in his arm. He doesn’t want his employees to wonder why their CEO is carrying around a bullet-ridden laptop.

Of course, if Felicity Smoak had any sense, she’d also be curious as to why he’s having her check out a strangely damaged laptop. Or she’d contact the Templars as soon as she has the chance.

Either way, the Council wants him to give her a chance to be trustworthy? Fine.

The elevators dings and the doors open. Walking up the IT reception desk, Oliver greets, “Good morning.”

The receptionist is surprised to see him, her eyes going wide and her cheeks coloring. “Oh! Good morning, Mr. Queen. How may I help you?”

“Could you point me to Miss Smoak’s office?”

“Yes, sir. It’s just down that hallway. You can’t miss it”

Offering her a charming smile, he thanks her. Although he doesn’t show it, Oliver does still find it amusing how girls still fawn over him.

When he gets the office, a plate on the wall already up labeling it, the door is open, so he walks in, thinking that she’ll notice him right away.

She doesn’t.

She’s wheeling between her L-shaped desk, one side filled with files and papers, the other holding up two computer screens. She wears a bright colored but professional looking dress. Her blonde hair is pulled into a neat ponytail, just as it was during her interview. Her glasses are perched on her nose and her red painted lips surround the tip of a red pen.

Why the hell does this woman have to be so gorgeous?

Oliver clears his throat, both to grab her attention and also to gather himself. “Felicity Smoak?”

She snaps her head to him and quickly pulls out the pen from her lips.

“Hi, I’m Oliver Queen.”

Seemingly gathering herself, she scoots her chair closer to the side of the desk that Oliver stands in front of and puts the pen down. “Of course! I know who you are. For god’s sake, I met you at my job interview for this company. You’re Mr. Queen.”

Why the hell does this woman have to be so charming? She’s so surprised by his entry, yet she’s not caught off guard by him. She’s barely done anything and he already feels like his walls are coming down. “No, Mr. Queen was my father.”

“Right, but he’s dead.” She shakes her head. “I mean he drowned! But you didn’t. Which means you could come down to the IT Department and listen to me babble. Which will end in 3… 2… 1…”

God damn it. He’s supposed to be suspicious of this girl. Not charmed. Oliver feels a smile grow on his face. A genuine one. One that hasn’t appeared on his face in a long time. He’s just disgustingly, legitimately amused by this woman. 

He sets down the laptop in front of her, trying (but mostly failing) to keep his composure as his normal, stoic self. “I’m having some trouble with my computer and they told me that you were the person to come and see.”

She looks down at the laptop and Oliver already knows that she can see right through him. He pulls a lie out of his ass. “I was at my coffee shop, surfing the web, and I spilled a latte on it.”

His amused smile is gone, replaced by thin lips that display how ashamed he is of this lie. How the hell can this woman get to him so easily.

“Really?” Felicity raises an eyebrow in disbelief. 

Oliver tries not to grimace. “Yeah.”

Pointing to the holes in the laptop, she states with a frown, “Because these look like bullet holes.”

“My coffee shop is in a bad neighborhood.”

Idiot. Diggle would smack him upside the head if he were here.

Felicity tilts her head to the side, not believing him at all.

Oliver should really feel frustrated at this interaction, but honestly, her responses just leave him amused, despite how he feels about her. He offers another genuine smile. “If there is anything that you can salvage from it, I would really appreciate it.”

Staring at her intently, Oliver watches as Felicity stares back in disbelief, her raised eyebrows forming lines at her forehead. He expects her to say no, to call him out on his bullshit. He almost wishes her to, if only to get evidence that she is a Templar. Instead, after a moment, she offers him a nod, accompanied by a “Mhm” and gets to work.

Who the hell is this girl?

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there's the famous chapter. I could've put the first meeting in the next chapter, but I did say I would put in this chapter (I think). I hoped you liked it! Follow me on Tumblr for fic updates and general Tumblr things at [nerdyandturdy](http://nerdyandturdy.tumblr.com). I'll probably be more active since all the shows are coming back this week. The Flash got me confused on time, but when the hell doesn't time travel confuse you.


	7. The Apple

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver and Felicity have an unexpected conversation and the Assassins have found some shocking information.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this is late guys! This week was a tough one for me. Lots of homework, lots of studying, blah blah blah college stuff. But here it is! A bit shorter than the previous ones, but I figured it was a good place to end it. Hope you enjoy!

They’re behind Felicity’s desk now. Oliver has pulled up one of the extra chairs Felicity has for guests to sit in during meetings, both professional and casual.

Oliver is entirely too close to her. She can smell is cologne, a slightly woodsy scent. He needs to stop leaning closer to see the computer screen. Because him leaning closer to the monitor means him leaning closer. And it’s pulling her attention away from her work.

He’s incredibly too handsome for his own good. She thought that his scruff covered jawline had been attractive enough during her job interview and during the meetings she’s had with all the executives and board members since she started at QC. Felicity had been able to admire him subtly (she hopes) from afar. But, boy, up close? Felicity honestly can’t believe she’s able to somewhat focus on the task at hand. Mostly. She could definitely work on this damaged hard drive faster if Oliver Queen’s presence wasn’t distracting.

Speaking of the hard drive, Felicity is incredibly grateful that the Brotherhood is still receiving and accepting her anonymous tips. Since her small inside connection with the Brotherhood had been through the late Robert Queen, and it was her intel for them that led them to start looking into more pieces of Eden, the most powerful tools created during the Ancient times before the Catastrophe, took that the Templars would definitely misuse, Felicity didn’t think the Brotherhood would be accepting of more anonymous tips. Still, she’d decided it couldn’t hurt. That’s why she decided to tap into Walter’s laptop to lead to Deadshot, connecting him to some of the shootings of the bidders for Unidac Industries.

Felicity figures that the Council is testing her now, to see if she would be of use to them, to see if she’s trustworthy. No way would they allow their top Assassin/CEO to come down to the IT department with a suspiciously destroyed “latte-spilled-on-it” laptop. It would bring up too many questions to the average IT grunt. Especially with that poor excuse of a lie.

Luckily for the Council, she’s just the IT grunt that they’re looking for.

After a few minutes (a few torturous minutes with Oliver “Hot Damn” Queen), Felicity pulls up the files from the laptop to her computer.

“Looks like blueprints…” she tells him, clicking through the different documents.

Raising an eyebrow, Oliver asks, “Do you know what of?”

She takes a second to recognize the building, but it clicks.

“The Exchange Building.”

Giving a slight shake of the head, Oliver states, “Never heard of it.”

Seriously? He’s CEO for god's sake. He should know this.

“It’s where the Unidac Industries auction is scheduled to take place.”

He just gives her a blank look.

How can he not know this? The auction is just a week away, and once again, Felicity must state that he is the CEO. He’s supposed to be there. They’ve had meetings about the auction, about how Felicity may be working with Unidac on possible projects.(Of course, Felicity had already known about the auction before she’d taken the job at Queen Consolidated.) He’s been present at all of them, no matter how many times he was late. He had to have paid attention to at least one of them… right?

For the CEO to have no idea about an event that he’ll be attending, an event that could mean a huge deal to QC’s success, it bewilders her. 

“I thought you said this was your laptop…” Felicity comments.

Oliver quickly tries to cover up his lie, but honestly, they both know he’s been caught. “Yes”

The handsome idiot keeps nodding, too, before Felicity begins setting him straight. She has to be careful, though. One wrong word and her secret get out. She hopes her brain-to-mouth filter works.

“Look. I don’t want to cause you any grief by saying this–” Felicity’s definitely going to regret saying this “–but you need to step up.”

Oliver drops the casual act. His blue eyes look straight into hers while his jaw tightens. “Excuse me?”

“I get it, okay?” She takes a breath before continuing. “Your dad died.”

A flash of pain appears in his eyes before he immediately puts his mask back on. He doesn’t say anything.

“Your dad died and left you with a huge responsibility. One you weren’t prepared for. One you didn’t even want.”

Oliver continues to make eye contact, still remaining silent.

“I had to deal with something similar when my dad left my mom and me.” Why is she telling him this? She barely knows him, and if her brain-to-mouth filter fails her, Felicity’s done for. “When he left, I was devastated. And so was my mom. We barely had any money, barely had anything, except the debts he decided to leave behind.”

Good, Felicity. Vague, mostly correct truths. With some details missing, but he doesn’t need to know that. Oliver’s still quiet.

“I know it’s not my place to say, Mr. Queen–”

“Oliver,” he says almost automatically.

“...Oliver,” she corrects herself. “But when my dad left, I stepped up. He left us with heavy burdens, left us to handle things with jobs I never wanted to do… because I was too young to try to keep together a household. To keep a broken family together. But I kept on. And you should too.”

Felicity has stepped over a line. She doesn’t know this man. But she does work for him. And she’s definitely not keeping up her work persona.

But she can’t stop herself. Her mouth just keeps going. She honestly can’t believe Oliver hasn’t stopped her yet.

“Don’t you want to honor your dad?”

Oliver seems a little lost in his own world, but his head still moves up and down.

“Then I think that you need to stop being this flaky, always late CEO and get to work.”

It’s true. In the few weeks that Felicity has been working at QC, she’s already picked up on a lot of things going on in the company, even amongst all the work she has to do as a department head. She’s picked up on their really poor cyber security, the first thing she started working on when she was all settled in. She’s picked up on the aging executives who just want money rather than wanting to help the world. She’s picked up on the office rumors. And she’s picked up on what Oliver’s employees think of him. And they don’t think too much about him.

They all think he’s unreliable, unsuitable to be CEO. They still see him as the playboy from all those tabloids she read about him.

But Felicity can tell that he’s not that person anymore. She can see it in the small specks of gray in his hair and in his beard. She can see it in the way he surveys every room to make sure there’s no danger. She can see it in the way he rarely seems to smile, both in the few times she’s been in the same room as him and the paparazzi pictures that are still being taken now. She can see it in the way he holds himself, like the weight of the world is on his shoulders, even when it doesn’t need to be.

Felicity has no idea why she’s so curious about Oliver Queen. Sure, he might be helping her with her Templar problem later down the line, but it’s more than that.

She’d been expecting a hard-set Assassin. But that’s just a mark. Though this strange interaction, Felicity can tell there’s another side to him that she can’t see. And she hates mysteries.

But she also needs to stay on task. So she tries to backtrack because she’s spoken too much.

Shaking her head to get back on track with the damaged laptop, Felicity hurriedly apologizes. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Queen. It was totally inappropriate for me to tell those things to you. It’s just that sometimes when I have a thought, my mouth kind of gets away from me and before I know it, I’ve probably offended half the room, who in this case is you, my boss who I should not be lectu–”

“Felicity.” Oliver lays a hand on her arm, which was gesturing wildly while she’d been babbling. He takes a moment to make sure she’s making eye contact with him, then lightly squeezes her arm. “It’s not a problem.”

The slightly starstruck girl in her gulps. Seriously. How dreamy could this guy get? The intensity of his blue eyes nearly has her shaking.

The two of them keep staring at each other before someone barges into her office with a loud, “There you are, Ollie!”

Felicity and Oliver jump apart as the whirlwind that is Thea Queen enters Felicity’s office. The sight of the two of them makes her pause from whatever she was going to say.

Felicity’s cheeks begin to burn. Oh, she is so fired. And then the Templars will… Felicity doesn’t even want to think about what they’ll do to her when they find out she’s failed her assignment.

A sly grin grows on Thea’s face and she folds her arms. “Uh... what’s going on here?”

How red are her cheeks right now?

Luckily, Oliver’s the one to recover first. “Felicity was just helping me with my computer.”

The walks further into the room. “Your computer, huh?”

Felicity recovers from her embarrassment just enough to answer. And tease Thea’s older brother a little bit. She’s feeling a little more comfortable around him after that unexpectedly serious conversation, even though he is her boss. Hopefully, Oliver won’t mind. Plus, Thea is a pretty cool kid. “He apparently spilled a latte on it.”

Thea goes on her toes to take a peek at said laptop over Felicity’s monitors. When she sees the laptop, the younger girl sets herself back down and shoots a pointed look at Oliver. “A latte, huh?”

Oliver has the decency to look ashamed at his ridiculous lie. “Yup.”

Thea rolls her eyes before turning her attention back to Felicity with a warm smile. “Hi, Felicity.”

Felicity returns the smile. “Hi, Thea.”

“I haven’t seen you at Jitters lately.”

“Oh, well, since I started working here, I’ve been too busy to go. I usually just have whatever’s here at work or ask Gerry–” she points toward the window pointing outside her office where her assistant is visible “–my assistant to get some.”

“Are you liking your job?”

“Definitely,” Felicity confirms with a nod of her head. “And I’m not just saying that because the CEO is right here.”

“Speaking of him…” Thea turns back to her older brother. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”

“Well, I’m here,” Oliver says. “What do you need?”

Felicity wonders if he's mad that their small moment was interrupted. Or if he’s mad that she’d spoken out of turn. He answers Thea with a slight growl to his voice. It’s kind of… hot. Which isn’t a surprise. But it’s highly inappropriate.

Thea notices the growl, too. “Whoa. Calm down, big brother.”

“I am calm.”

Thea takes in Oliver’s clenched jaw and tense shoulders. She shoots him another pointed look.”... Sure. Anyway, I was talking with Walter earlier for–” Thea glances at Felicity before continuing “–reasons. When we were done he mentioned needing to talk to you but you weren’t in your office. I volunteered to go look for you for him.”

“I guess I shouldn’t keep him.” Oliver turns to Felicity. “Could I have those files from my laptop put into something, Felicity?”

Offering a small smile, Felicity shows him a small flash drive. “Already done. Everything should be on this drive.”

Oliver nods and takes it from her hand. Thea, with that cheeky, sly grin still on her face, and Oliver, with a small smile of his own, start heading out of Felicity’s office.

However, just as Thea goes through the door, Oliver pauses, turning his head back to Felicity. 

They make eye contact. Felicity’s heart races as Oliver’s eyes bore into hers once more.

“Thank you, Felicity.”

She gets the feeling he’s thanking her for more than the flash drive.

Felicity blinks and dumbly responds, “It’s not a problem.”

With that, he joins his sister outside in the hallway, just outside of her office, where Felicity is sure she’d been watching their exchange through the office window. 

Turning back to her computers, Felicity tries to get back into work mode.

Except she can’t think of anything besides that blue-eyed, muscley, looks-too-good-in-a-suit, terrible at lies boss.

Felicity… Now is not the time to get caught up with boys.

Especially Oliver Queen.

Her boss… Her incredibly handsome boss.

Who is also an Assassin.

And the son of the man she practically helped kill.

Oh, boy. She’s in trouble.

* * *

“You, my big brother, are an idiot,” Thea says as they walk through the IT department to get to the elevator.

“What?”

“You are an idiot.”

“I am not.”

Thea stretches out her arms at him, dramatically gesturing to the laptop hidden in his left arm. “A latte? Seriously?”

Oliver simply chooses to glare at her instead of responding. Definitely not his best choice of lies.

“Ollie, please tell me that you think Felicity’s so pretty you just brain farted and forgot your actual excuse.”

“I did not brain fart,” Oliver protests.

They get to the elevator and Thea pushes the up button. Then she cocks her head and says, “So you are an idiot then.”

Just as she says that a few employees pass by them, noticeably preventing themselves from laughing after overhearing Thea’s words.

“Thea, would you be quiet?”

“Why? Don’t want your reputation with the ladies to be damaged?”

Oliver somehow manages to shoot Thea a stronger glare. “Speedy!”

She raises her hands in surrender. “Okay, okay. Relax that jaw of yours. I was just laughing at how pathetic you are.”

Oliver loves his baby sister. He really does. But sometimes, he’d really like to wring her neck. Only sometimes.

Thea seems to be enjoying herself. The more Oliver gets ticked off, the more she laughs.

It’s the only reason Thea is one of the few people he lets under his skin. It puts a smile on her face. And lately, her smiles have been scarce.

The elevator dings and its doors open. A few employees leave, quietly bidding Thea and Oliver a good morning as they step off.

Luckily for the Queen siblings, no one is left inside the elevator car, so they can continue their conversation in private.

“Seriously, though, Ollie. You could’ve come up with a less ridiculous excuse.”

Because Oliver also feels ashamed at his fantastic lying skills, he relents. “I don’t know what happened, Thea. Okay? I walked in there and I…”

Oliver trails off and looks down at his shoes. He honestly doesn’t know what happened. He could’ve just told Felicity that the police had asked him to have someone look into the damaged laptop. Or he could’ve just left out that latte part. That’s definitely where he messed up.

He’d just been so distracted. Not just from Felicity’s beauty. While she is a beautiful woman, with that small yet curvy body in those brightly colored dresses. Don’t even get him started on those legs.

If Oliver didn’t have the control he has now, he could’ve turned into that foolish playboy he used to be. Or into a hopeless schoolboy. 

But Oliver has more pride than that. At least he hopes he does.

He can’t be lusting after this when she could potentially be a part of the Templar Order.

Oliver looks back up from his shoes and notices Thea’s curious stare.

“What?”

Her curiosity turns into another smirk. “She’s unexpected, huh?”

Without him noticing, a small smile sprouts on his face. “... I guess you could say that.”

What seems like the longest elevator ride finally ends on the top floor. They step out and start toward Walter’s office.

“Well, with that smile on your face, it looks like I was right.”

“Right about what?”

“Right about finding your new girlfriend.”

“Speedy!”

Walter is waiting for them outside of his office, so he must have overheard some of their conversation since he greets them with, “What are the two of you fighting about now?”

Thea doesn’t miss a beat. “Ollie’s in denial that he has a thing for Felicity.”

Oliver doesn’t know how many times he’s rolled his eyes at his sister in the past twenty minutes.

“Miss Smoak, Oliver?” Walter seems to be in a joking mood today. “I daresay, she is a huge improvement from some of your former girlfriends.”

Thea’s jaw drops, still retaining her amused smile. “Ollie, I do believe you have been burned. Nice, Walter.”

Oliver’s had enough of this teasing. “What did you need me for, Walter?”

“Funny you should say,” he replies with a chuckle. “It actually has to do with Miss Smoak.”

That gets Oliver’s head whirring. Momentarily forgetting his latest encounter with her, Oliver can only think the worst of her. Has the Council found something suspicious about her? Has he been right about her this whole time?

Oliver expects himself to feel elated that he was right for once. That despite everyone doubting him, he’s the one who came through for the Brotherhood. Who caught the mole before she could become the mole. But then he remembers that not even hour ago, she’d been reprimanding him for not being a good leader. She’d lectured him about not stepping up for his family. For not caring.

And she’s right. He’d only been caring about himself. About his revenge. When he’s not at work, he’s working out, beating his body to the brim. When he’s not working out, he out on the streets, out on the rooftops. Beating up criminals and searching for any evidence the Templars leave behind. Coming back with cuts, bruises, and when he’s reckless, worse. And he’s been reckless lately. Ever since the Lian Yu mission, Oliver’s been going off the rails, even though he promised his family that he wouldn’t.

And here he is, letting his family’s company, his father’s legend, die with an incompetent CEO. Walter probably should’ve accepted the position when the Council first suggest him to take over the company. 

Can a woman who’d called him out on his mistakes and tried to get him to step up really be a Templar?

“Oliver?”

He must have been too caught up in his thoughts. “Sorry, Walter. I must’ve spaced out a bit.”

“Thinking about your new girlfriend?” Thea teases.

Walter chuckles at her quip. Thea’s really after him today.

Oliver shakes his head. “Why do we need to talk about Felicity?”

“I want her to join us at the Unidac auction.”

“What?” Why does everyone know about this damn auction except for him. Oh, right. He’s a truly incompetent CEO.

“I think it would be highly beneficial for her to be present at the auction. While we know a bit about the projects that Unidac have proposed, we don’t know a lot,” Walter explains. “If she’s there with us, I think she’d help us understand these projects. To see if they are truly worth the investment.”

Oliver looks around. While there are only a few people on the executive floor, not everyone here is a part of the Brotherhood. “Why don’t we take this conversation to your office.”

Walter nods and they start toward his door. Including Thea.

“Uh, Speedy. Why don’t you wait out here?”

She raises her eyebrows at him, clearly pissed. “Oh, hell no Oliver. I’m coming with. I’m apart of this family and this company. I can contribute.”

Oliver never really wanted Thea to be a part of the Brotherhood. It would get too messy. But lately, she’s been too passionate about becoming an Assassin. She’s been pushing him about starting her training soon. 

Oliver sighs. “Fine.”

They enter Oliver’s office and sit at the chairs Walter has for guests.

“Deadshot is still at large,” Oliver tells Walter. “I brought the laptop to Felicity and she found blueprints to the building that the auction is being held at. Don’t you think it’ll be dangerous for Felicity to be at the auction?”

“I don’t doubt that it’ll be a danger. But we’ll have our men surrounding the building. You won’t have to worry.”

“Plus, you’ll be there to protect your new girlfriend, Ollie.”

“Thea!”

She just laughs.

“Are you really sure this is a smart decision, Walter?” Oliver asks the older man.

“I think so,” Walter says. “I know that bringing Felicity to the auction will have its dangers. We’re not even sure she’s trustworthy yet.”

Oliver nods.

“However, we’re running out of time.”

Oliver and Thea look at each other, both concerned. When they look back at Walter, Oliver asks, “What do you mean we’re running out of time?”

“I mean, we’ve gathered new intel.”

“From where?”

“Andrew Diggle.”

Digg’s younger brother? Oliver hadn’t realized he’d been on an assignment.

“What did he find out?”

Walter stands up from the couch and walks over to his desk. He unlocks one of his desk drawers and procures a file. When he walks back, he hands it to Oliver. Thea scoots closer to him to take a peek. There’s really no stopping her.

When Oliver opens the file, he doesn’t really know what to expect. Intel on a person? A Templar? Another traitor?

Instead, he sees a drawing. Of a ball.

But it’s not just any regular ball. It’s golden in color, with intricate designs decorating it. 

It’s a Piece of Eden. More specifically, an Apple of Eden.

“Holy shit…” Thea breathes out in awe. “Is that…?”

“An Apple of Eden, yes.”

Apples of Eden were legendary. Still are. Have been for centuries. For thousands of years. All Assassins know about them. Even Oliver and he’d pretty much failed any history class he’d taken up until he became an Assassin.

Thousands of years ago, when the world was first created, the Earth wasn’t occupied by humans. Instead, the beings inhabiting the world were called the Isu. These beings were powerful and advanced creatures. They had more advanced abilities than any human could comprehend. They built the Pieces of Eden as tools to help the world. To improve it.

However, the Isu were few, and reproduced very little. So they created the first humans, who were vastly underdeveloped than them, and had secret neurotransmitters that made humans susceptible to the Isu and their Pieces of Eden.  They were created to help the Isu. They helped develop the world with the Isu. The only Pieces of Eden the humans were not allowed to use were the Apples. They were more powerful than the other pieces. They had different abilities. Dangerous abilities. They were the Pieces that controlled the humans

When the Isu got too impatient with the slow reproduction of their kind, some began to reproduce with humans. Their children, the hybrids, didn’t have the neurotransmitters that regular humans did. They didn’t have to obey the Isu. 

So two humans stole an Apple from the Isu, causing the Human-Isu War. While the Isu had more power, the humans had more numbers. During the final days of the war, the Isu were nearly extinct. Then the Catastrophe struck. The Isu were obliterated, but the humans still lived. Many forgot about the Isu, but a few of those who still remembered, they were power hungry. The remembered the Pieces of Eden. They remembered the Apples. And they wanted to use these to control the rest of the human population. They became the Templars.

Those who stood for freedom, who wanted to stop the Templars, they became the Assassin.

But those Pieces of Eden are the real enemy. In the wrong hands, they’re the most dangerous tools on Earth.

So when Walter says, “We believe that the Templars now have possession of an Apple of Eden,” Oliver’s heart stops for a second.

Shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There it is! I know. Them having such an intimate conversation so early is a little... weird. But that's where my mind took me. So I wrote it. And then it took me to that Apple. So hopefully with that tidbit of Assassin-Templar history, this story may not be so confusing. Be sure to drop a comment below and say hi on my Tumblr [nerdyandturdy](http://nerdyandturdy.tumblr.com)


	8. The Invitation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver wants to know what the Brotherhood is going to do about the Templars having an Apple of Eden, and Felicity is beginning to think she's in over her head when she gets an invitation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know! I know! It's been a very long time. I'm so so so sorry. School was and still is hectic and the holidays were unexpectedly more busy than I thought they were going to be. But here is chapter 8. A little shorter than what I wanted it to be (its 3000+ words so not short at all) but I felt the last scene was a good place to end. Anyway, I hope this long overdue chapter will bring some happiness to this unfortunate Friday... because of reasons we all know. Enjoy!

 

“Andy’s sure that it’s an Apple they have?” Oliver asks. He has trouble believing that their greatest enemy has such a powerful weapon.

If the Templars have their hands on an Apple, they’re in trouble. It’s been centuries since the sighting of an Apple of Eden. One hasn’t been seen since the times of the great Master Assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze during the Italian Renaissance. His Apple had the ability to heal wounds, create illusions, and control human minds, though Ezio never used it except to heal himself in dire situations. Since Ezio’s death, no one has been able to locate the Apple. And there hasn’t been another one found. There have been other Pieces of Eden found, but none has powerful and dangerous as an Apple. 

But here is Walter, telling Oliver that one of the most dangerous organizations in the world is in possession of one. How are they going to deal with the Order now?

“Mr. Diggle assured me that is the rumor going around, yes,” Walter replies.

Oliver raises an eyebrow. “Rumors? What if that’s all they are? Rumors they’re spreading just to scare us?”

It’s a plausible tactic. Get their enemies riled up and panicking before striking with their real attack. Something no one will be expecting because they’ll be so focused on a weapon they don’t actually have in possession.

But Walter shakes his head. “We can’t take that chance, Oliver.”

He’s right. While the tactic would be a clever one, it’s also an obvious one. The Templars can be tricky bastards. You can never really know how to deal with them if you don’t know exactly what’s going on.

So how are they going to handle this if the Templars really do have an Apple? Because if they do, the Brotherhood is severely ill-prepared for one.

When Oliver looks to Thea, she also seems concerned at the prospect. She folds her arms and purses her lips. “So what are we going to do?”

Oliver furrows his eyebrows at her and crosses his arms. “We?”

Thea sighs, rolls her eyes at Oliver, and turns back to Walter. “What are  _ you _ going to do?”

At any other time, Oliver would find Thea’s annoyance with him amusing. But just the idea of Thea, barely trained at all, being around Templars with an Apple of Eden terrifies him to his bones. Even though she’s probably gearing up to start her training soon, Thea is still his little sister. Even if she becomes a greater Assassin than he is (and she probably could), Oliver will still worry.

“For now, we’ll take no action,” Walter answers. Oliver feels his face twitch.

Oliver hates not doing something about a problem. Automatically, his body tenses at the idea of just letting the Templars do their thing.

Walter must notice because he claps a hand on Oliver’s shoulder and assures, “Don’t start a fit, Oliver. We will not exactly be doing nothing. An Apple of Eden is a dangerous artifact. We still don’t know much about them and we don’t know how the Templars plan to use their Apple, if they do have one. For now, we’ll send our best Brothers and Sisters to find out more.”

“And what about me?”

“You’re a figurehead now, Oliver. We can’t afford to have you going on missions. Especially when they concern something as dangerous as an Apple,” Walter explains. “The Templars will know we’re up to something when our CEO starts being more absent than he already is.” 

Oliver ducks his head, a little sheepish at Walter’s comment. He already got a wake up call from Felicity barely an hour ago.

“I’m sorry about that, Walter,” Oliver apologizes. Oliver is a little surprised at how much he means it. “I know I haven’t put my best foot forward as CEO and it’s putting a lot of stress and pressure on you in addition to your duties as a Council member.”

Both Thea and Walter raise their eyebrows. Oliver’s not really known for apologies– sincere ones at that– but here he is. Felicity Smoak really did a number on him in just a few minutes.

Walter recovers and his lips curve up. “You don’t need to apologize, Oliver. I’ll always offer my help to you and your family.”

“Still, I’ve been a terrible leader to this company.” Oliver offers his hand. “I promise I’ll do better.”

The older man’s smile grows as he takes Oliver’s hand and shales. “If you don’t mind me asking, what brought this on? You’re not really one to acknowledge your mistakes.

Oliver stills and he’ll forever deny that his cheeks turn just a little red.

Thea’s smile, which had shown with pride at his apology to Walter, morphs into a sly grin.

“It was Felicity, wasn’t it?”

When Oliver doesn’t immediately respond, Thea claps with glee. “Hah! I knew it! You two are great! And you just barely met her!”

“Speedy…”

“Don’t tease him too much, Thea,” Walter tells her. Oliver is grateful for his sensible mind. “I’m sure there will be plenty of time to do that later.”

Just kidding.

Trying to change the subject back quickly, Oliver asks, “So who will you be sending out to gather for intel?”

“The Council has decided on Lyla Diggle, Andrew Diggle, and Maseo Yamashiro to go out separately. Mrs. Diggle will be contacting all of her ARGUS connections to dig some information up. Mr. Diggle will be weaving in and out of the gray area of Templar-Assassin world. And Mr. Yamashiro will use his former connections with another section of the Brotherhood to find out more about the Apples of Eden.”

“And us?”

“We’ll keep an eye out for any trouble until we find out more. For now, we worry about this auction for Unidac.”

Walter starts heading toward his desk. “I’m going to have Miss Smoak come up so we can tell her about the auction.”

“Great!” Thea exclaims. “You’ll get to see firsthand how much she and Oliver are meant to be.”

His baby sister really needs to shut up.

* * *

After the Queens left her office, Felicity just sat in her chair for a few minutes.

Of course, she’s (a little used) to the antics of Thea Queen. Many a times have they arrived at Jitters around the same time. They would sit at the same table and talk.

Felicity was horrifyingly nervous and babbly at first. She was talking with Thea Queen! The daughter of the Assassin she helped kill. Probably getting ready to become an Assassin herself. Technically, she’s the enemy. Yes, Felicity is trying to get out of the Order. Yes, she wants to end them. But right now, she’s undercover for them. Being friends with Thea could have some disastrous consequences. Getting too close to her could result in her secret being revealed before she’s ready. Surely, they’d have her put down before Felicity could prove her innocence.

There would also be a fair amount of emotional damage to both her and Thea, and Felicity would rather herself be harmed than cause someone else harm, emotional or otherwise. 

Still, when Felicity had been able to meet Thea almost daily at Jitters, and texting now and then after they’d exchanged numbers, Felicity had already taken to the Queen girl.

And now she’s starting to take a liking to her older brother, Oliver Queen. Her boss, for heaven’s sake. Her gorgeous, muscled boss with piercing blue eyes. Felicity swears they were having another silent conversation through their eyes, and she doesn’t even know what about!

At first, he’s a little bit of a stoic, indifferent man. Then, he’s a bit of a player. Minutes later, he’s something else. Something sincere. And Felicity hasn’t had many sincere people in her life.

Oh, she’s in trouble with this man. This man who is, she mentions again, her boss. Her kind of, sort of enemy. She’s technically a Templar. He’s a full-fledged Assassin. An Assassin who would do who knows what if he finds out about her connection to his father’s death. An Assassin with less than friendly ties to a man she’s working with to destroy this city.

This wonderful city that she’s finally able to experience. Felicity loves Star City. It’s so much better than Las Vegas and her time in Massachusetts had been ruined by the Templars hovering over her. If Felicity hadn’t been sucked up into the Templar world, she could see herself accepting Walter Steele’s offer all those years ago, and never regretting it.

In another life, maybe she’d meet the Queens, when she wasn’t worried about secrets upon secrets upon secrets.

But no. She’s spying on the Assassins for the Templars while trying to secretly spy on the Templars so she can gain the help of the Assassins. Felicity doesn’t even know if they’ll take her. 

Felicity didn’t plan on making any personal connections when she formulated her mission to double cross the Templars.

But here she is, sitting in her office, half paying attention to her work while worrying over the fact that she is in over her head with getting out this with everyone unscathed. Herself included.

Felicity shakes her head, clearing her mind, before getting back to work.

She loses track of time when she finally gets her work rhythm back, so Felicity startles when her assistant comes on their personal intercom.

“Felicity?”

She’d insisted Gerry call her Felicity and not “Miss Smoak.” It made her feel older than she was.

“Yes, Gerry?”

“Mr. Steele’s assistant just called to say Mr. Steele would like to talk to you about something in office.”

Oh, frack. Felicity hopes she’s not being fired. Maybe Oliver wasn’t as fine with their conversation as he let on.

What a stupid reason to get fired. She’ll be super pissed off if that is what this meeting is about.

“Do I have any meetings within the next hour?”

“No, ma’am.”

Okay, then. She has the time to rip them a new one if they really are firing her after just a few weeks at work.

“Alright. Tell Mr. Steele I’ll be up in a few minutes.”

* * *

Since Felicity is technically an Executive now, she’s free to use the executive elevators without an escort. Meaning she’s free to pout and seethe about her potential termination from QC.

How dare that man. Felicity thought she’d seen some sincerity when Oliver had thanked her before he’d left her office.

When the elevator dings and the doors open, Felicity practically marches to Walter’s office. Rounding the corner, she’s about ready to ignore Mr. Steele’s assistant and head straight to his office door, but she stills when she sees who is inside the office.

It’s Oliver and Thea.

Okay… She’s confused now.

Felicity must have this all wrong then, jumping too quickly to conclusions. It’s perfectly plausible for Oliver to be present if she is getting fired. She had been the one to reprimand him after all. But for Thea to be there? That part is strange.

Now Felicity has no idea why they’ve called her up.

Through the glass walls of Mr. Steele’s office, the three of them notice Felicity standing by. Mr. Steele goes to open the door as his assistant tells her, “Go right in, Miss Smoak.”

Walter greets her, “Miss Smoak, good morning!”

“Good morning, Mr. Steele.” He holds open the door as she passes through. Putting on a smile, she addresses the two Queen siblings, “Thea, Oliver. Long time no see.”

Oliver’s lips tick up and Thea laughs. 

“Yeah! I haven’t seen you in forever. Like an hour ago,” the younger girl quips.

Felicity chuckles a bit herself. “To what do I owe this meeting to, Mr. Steele?”

Walter rounds back behind his desk. He motions for Felicity to sit with the Queens in front of his desk. Of course, the only seat available is next to Oliver. She tries not to fidget as she feels Oliver’s gaze on her.

Felicity feels her nerves growing again.

“I’m not getting fired, right? Because that would totally be uncalled for. I’ve only been working here for a few weeks and this is the greatest job I’ve ever had and it would be totally wrong and unlawful of you to fire me because I told my boss to wake up and take his job seriously. Plus, the fact that you would be firing me in front of his little sister who I’m pretty sure is like my only friend in this city and–”

She feels a hand on her shoulder and turns in her seat to see that it’s Oliver. (Of course it’s him. He’s the only one next to her.)

“Felicity,” he says with an amused smile. (Good god, can he keep saying her name like that?) “We’re not firing you.”

So she’s freaked out for nothing. Great.

“Yeah, that was really great,” Thea heaves out as she wipes a tear from her eye. Oh, she said that out loud. “Yeah, you did. God, I haven’t laughed that hard in forever. Please, Felicity. Never change.”

“I’ve had foot-in-mouth syndrome for years, Thea. I don’t think I could if I wanted to,” Felicity replies with an embarrassed chuckle.

“Don’t.”

It doesn’t come from Thea, though. The word is uttered by Oliver. She turns red as she looks at him with wide eyes, though Felicity is sure her cheeks are already red.

Abruptly, she whips her head back to Mr. Steele, but Felicity can see a little glint in his eyes as he makes subtle (but not subtle enough) eye contact with Thea. Out of the corner of her eye, Felicity can see that she’s sporting a mischievous grin on her face. Felicity hopes she can handle whatever Thea is going to get into next, but Walter begins to speak again.

“As Oliver said, we will not be firing you.” Felicity bows her head a little out of embarrassment. “Actually, Oliver and I were discussing the Unidac auction this week.”

“Oh?” She quirks an eyebrow toward Oliver, slightly amused. He avoids her gaze. Good. He should be embarrassed by that half-assed lie he told her earlier.

“We’d like for you to attend as well.”

Wait, what?

Thea snorts. Oliver shoots her a quick glare.

“We’d like for you to join us at the auction, Miss Smoak,” Walter says again. “Since you’ll be working closely with the Unidac team if we do win the bid, we’d like to see your opinion on the projects they’ll be presenting to see if the company really is worth buying.

Oh yes, she’d say yes anyway. If QC buys the company, that means Merlyn Global can’t access that earthquake machine. Felicity guesses they’re plans will be delayed at best, but it’s still something. Anything she can do to help them out  against the Templars, she’s willing to do, even if Deadshot is at large.

“If that’s the case, Mr, Steele, I’ll gladly attend the auction, though it’s a little unexpected and I don’t have much to prepare for it.”

“I know it’s last minute, so Thea’s volunteered to take you out shopping for the event.”

“Oh, I know exactly what kind of dress will be perfect for you!” Thea exclaims. Oliver rolls his eyes, probably having dealt with Thea’s obsession with fashion for years.

“Be sure to use your company card for the dress.”

Felicity’s eyes bulge. “Oh, no, Mr. Steele, I couldn’t! I have–”

“I insist, Miss Smoak. Consider it a bonus for having to attend one of many formal events such as this one. And for having to deal with our young Thea Queen.”

“Hey!”

Felicity still wants to deny it, but despite Walter’s jab at her, Thea speaks up first. “Trust me, Felicity. Just use it. These things are horribly boring. You’ll regret using your own money to stand around a bunch of stuck up old rich guys and other entitled rich folk.”

Felicity, though still a little wary, nods her head.

“Before you make certain plans, however, it would only be fair to warn you, Miss Smoak,” Walter says with a sudden change of mood. “There is a potential danger, should you attend the auction.”

Already immersing her into the Assassin world, are they?

“It has to do with what I found on that laptop, doesn’t it?”

“Yes, it does,” Walter confirms with a nod. “As you may have heard, there’s been a killing of a few business owners going on this past week.”

She nods, having heard about the situation already. “Floyd Lawton, right?”

The answer makes Walter and Oliver stare at her in curiosity.

“... Yes. How do you know that?” Walter inquires.

Felicity tries not to freeze. “His name was on the laptop.”

She really hopes that was a convincing lie, because it hadn’t been on the laptop. Felicity doesn’t think it was. She’d already known about Deadshot beforehand because of the Templars. And because of that, she might have just blown her cover. Hopefully, whoever checks out the drive she gave to Oliver doesn’t notice Floyd Lawton’s name not being present.

Thankfully for Felicity, they seem to accept the lie.

“Based on what you’ve found on the laptop…”

Felicity’s eyes go wide when she makes the connection. She feels a little bit like an idiot for not realizing it earlier. She knew the Templars had hired Lawton to kill all their competition. Of course he’d threaten the auction itself.

“... He’s going to be targeting the auction,” Walter finishes.

Felicity honestly doesn’t know what to say. Of course, she still wants to go. But she knows it’ll strike odd if she says right away that she’ll still go to the auction.

Any normal person wouldn’t go. But Felicity isn’t normal.

“I understand now that with this information, you may not want to attend anymore,” Walter continues, “but you have my word, we’ll have our best security surrounding the area, along with SCPD, protecting the auction.”

Felicity looks toward the Queen siblings. Oliver obviously doesn’t want her to go, given the tension in his jaw. Thea looks displeased as well, probably afraid for her seemingly defenseless new friend.

But the Templars wouldn’t have Felicity targeted. She’s an asset who has already gained the trust of their enemies. She’s a part of their mission.

Still, the concept makes Felicity nervous. She knows the Brotherhood is testing her, making sure she’s worthy. Making sure she’s ready to face danger.

So she accepts. “I’ll still go, Mr. Steele.”

Felicity keeps eye contact with him, making sure to convey her confidence, but out of the corner of her eye, she can see that the Queens are surprised. They hadn’t been expecting her to still say yes.

But Walter doesn’t seem that surprised. In fact, he’s smiling.

“I knew there was something Robert and I saw in you all those years ago,” he says.

She blushes at the compliment. Felicity likes to think that if the Templars hadn’t invaded her life, she would’ve been able to take Robert Queen’s job offer five years ago. Maybe she’d still be fighting against the Templars, but as an actual part of the Brotherhood. Maybe she’d already be friends with Thea. With Oliver, too. And she wouldn’t be stuck between good and evil.

But she is. At least she kind of has them on her side. Kind of. Felicity just needs to make sure they know she’s on their side.  She tries the honest approach.

“I’ll be honest and say all of this is more than a little suspicious, Mr. Steele,” Felicity admits. If was a normal person, and didn’t know about any of this world that she was forced into, the cops would already be at the door. “But I know you’re doing good things with this company. And from what I’ve gathered, you all seem like good people.”

All of them are looking at her, showing different signs of nervousness.

But they don’t have anything to worry about. As long as they’re against the Templars, she’ll be on their side.

“I’m not just saying this to keep my job. But whatever is going on here, I’ll go along with it.”

Felicity would laugh under less professional circumstances when they all let out a breath of relief.

“Well, Miss Smoak,” Walter says after a beat of silence, “I’ll have your assistant clear your schedule for the day and have Thea take you shopping.”

Everyone takes that as a cue to stand. Walter rounds his desk to stand in front of her.

“Miss Smoak. I know this might be strange to you, and you feel we are hiding a few things from you.

She nods.

“But I assure you, what we’re doing here is important,” Mr. Steele looks straight into her eyes. His voice is soft yet strong at the same time. If Felicity hadn’t already been planning to help them, she’s sure Walter’s charisma would have her saying yes.

“And good,” Oliver adds, his intense blue eyes focused on her. Thea, who stands just behind him, nods her head in agreement, a warm smile on her face.

“Yes, good,” Walter agrees. “We can’t tell you anything yet. But we hope to do so in the future. All we need is trust. Can we trust you, Felicity Smoak?”

She gulps. “Yes.”

Felicity really hopes she doesn’t screw this up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear I will try my hardest to get a chapter up next week! Please follow my Tumblr, [nerdyandturdy](http://nerdyandturdy.tumblr.com/) for any updates I might make on the fic, or maybe if you just wanna enjoy my nerdy blog. :) 
> 
> Also, if anyone would like to beta this fic, and also just keep my schedule straight, please contact me through there!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Be sure to leave a comment and check out my Tumblr


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